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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23353732">Broken Wings</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Showndra_Ridge/pseuds/Showndra_Ridge'>Showndra_Ridge</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, M/M, NaNoWriMo, Original Character Death(s)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:09:32</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>29,486</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23353732</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Showndra_Ridge/pseuds/Showndra_Ridge</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the story of a battalion of OC clones from the battle of Geonosis, till their eventual end.  This novel shows their development, from shiny troopers thrown into the chaos that was battle, to well trained troopers, and eventually for a few of them ARCS.  Along the way some of the men find love, friendships, and a home they never knew they would have.  Till, one day, they lose it all.  This is the story of the 109th battalion, Broken Wing, and how they found their wings, only for them to be broken again.</p>
<p>This is a NaNo from 2018, and as such it is novel length.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Prolog: The End</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Regarding ‘The Path You Walk’ I do intend to update it eventually, but the computer it was written on had a RAM issue and at the time I didn’t have the money to fit it.  When it crashed it took all of the notes for that story, the chapter I’d just finished, and a really awesome one involving Cad Bane that I was going to stick in later at some point (you guys would have loved it.)  I finally have the money, and if the small business I plan to take it to will still be open next week we’re going to run it off there to be fixed.  Hopefully if nothing else I can recover the story and have that chapter up for you soon.</p>
<p>If not, I’ll rewrite it later this month.  I hadn’t rewritten it yet because honestly the chapter gave me such issues, there was a lot of scene changes and interactions with characters that for some reason were hard to write.  Add to that the crash made me loose several novels I’d intend to publish and other WIPs and I kind of lost my ambition to write anything for a while.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>So what is this story?  This is my 2018 NANOWIMO, following the lives of a battalion of OC clone characters.  Its long, it’s a NaNo, but it may as well see the light of day since we’re all stuck inside.  I’m going to be trying to write and post something once a week here for everyone.  It may be an older nano like this, it may be something new, who knows.</p>
<p>It was written in 2018, it uses the canon as it was that time.  I do not have Disney+ so nothing from the new Clone Wars will be appearing (unless it was mentioned in the unfished story reels, then it’s taken as canon for this.)  It is slight AU, canon characters such a Cody do appear, and it takes slightly liberty with some ideas (ARC training for one.)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It ended in an instant.  </p>
<p>Hopes, dreams, fears, life.</p>
<p>Gone.</p>
<p>Gone without so much as a blink, as a nod from the galaxy as a whole.  Over two thousand men just suddenly no longer in existence.  Lives ended, snuffed out.</p>
<p>And one Jedi.</p>
<p>It would be the Jedi the universe missed more, the GAR actually cared was dead.</p>
<p>For those men though, they would be missed by a planet as forgotten by the Republic as they were.</p>
<p>Weeks would pass before the Magistrate found out what happened to them.</p>
<p>Then the news spread, and the planet went into morning.  Morning their sons, and the loss of their daughter.</p>
<p>Men who, for the greater scheme of the war didn’t matter to some were the whole world of some of those who now cried.</p>
<p>Wives, girlfriends, husbands mourned the loss of the men.  Children would grow up never knowing their fathers, their real fathers</p>
<p>A world that considered those men sons, that wanted them, and that was waiting to welcome them home as family never would.  The men would never return to that planet to live or to die, to return or to find it as a final resting place.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>“Cakewalk.” Talon’s voice had come through their comms shortly after they had landed.  The Separatists had left, abandoning the planet to the GAR.  The other ships had left the 109th soon after to move on to another battled so Seh-Leah had taken her men down and began the work of securing the planet.  It wasn’t a strategic place, and wasn’t even occupied anymore.  The planet held almost no value for both the Grand Army of the Republic and the Confederacy of Independent Systems.</p>
<p>“Telling you guys this is a cake walk.” Talon told them again.</p>
<p>“Even if it is make sure to check all those buildings.” Commander Drake told the heavy gunner.</p>
<p>The planet was abandoned so now all the men had to do was check what was left of the buildings, make sure looks were as it seemed and secure everything.  </p>
<p>“Every building.  Check it.” Drake reminded them, “I don’t want a surprise ambush because we let our guard down.” </p>
<p>“There’s nothing here Drake.” Tobias spoke, looking up from where he was walking with his men, “Planetary scans show nothing, our secondary scans show nothing, we’re the only living things here.” </p>
<p>“Still, I want to keep everyone that way.” Drake told his second.  “And you did have a bad feeling about this mission.”</p>
<p>“Maybe Toby just misfired this time.” Peg offered, slightly teasing his brother, “Even ARCs of his level can miss read signs sometimes.”</p>
<p>“Let’s hope that’s all it is.” Drake told them, glancing at his Jedi.  She’d seemed worried as well before they landed and he didn’t like it.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>“Told you, cakewalk.” Talon told them when they regrouped.  “We’re due an easy mission anyway.” The heavy gunner settled down next to some of the men as he relaxed to eat what resembled a meal.</p>
<p>“Still…” Tobias trailed off, unable to shake his feeling.</p>
<p>“Still nothing.  Easy mission, we finish this up, then go on shore leave.  I get to see Cacth before the baby comes, and Tracker gets to play with his kids for two weeks.”</p>
<p>Tobias didn’t answer again, slowly wandering toward his jedi and his batch.</p>
<p>“Still worried?” Raven asked him softly.</p>
<p>He nodded.</p>
<p>“I am too.” Leah told them, the jedi looking up at the sky.  “Something just feels off here, about this place.  Like we shouldn’t be here.”</p>
<p>“We can get on the ship in the morning, inform the GAR the planet is secure and maybe leave.” The Commander offered.</p>
<p>The Jedi nodded, “We should do that.  But for tonight we do have to make sure this planet stays secure for one day at least.”</p>
<p>Tobias shivered but didn’t say anything, not wanting to jinx them anymore then he already had.</p>
<p>They went to bed down in various buildings shortly after.</p>
<p>*</p>
<p>Screams from their ship, The Nest, woke the men, the warning coming to late.</p>
<p>A Separatist weapon, of unknown make appeared in the sky, practically blinking into existence.  Tobias had enough time to run into his building’s observation room, enough time to hear screams in his comms from his brothers.</p>
<p>Then the weapon opened fire.</p>
<p>A single beam hit the group, pulsing into it.</p>
<p>Nothing happened for a moment then a wave spread out from it, a wave of destruction.</p>
<p>Leah and Dake’s voices where the first to go quiet, silenced mid word.</p>
<p>Tobias turned, yelling at his frozen men to move, get down, get to the bunker.  He watched as they started to go before he turned back to the wave as it loomed own upon him.</p>
<p>A trooper stood frozen next to him.  The ARC moved, throwing himself upon the shiny as the wave hit them.</p>
<p>The last thing Tobias heard was the shattering of glass as it rained down upon the two of them.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 1: Geonosis</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>As the Gunship lurched a bit, not for the first time CT-239 glanced anxiously to his batch brothers.  Some were looking down at the weapons in their hands, but CT-250 was looking directly back at him.  They were all anxious he knew, everyone on that ship was, even CC-275, his batch brother and the Commander of this group of men.  The light glinted off someone’s armor as they shifted, the armor so shiny, so clean, CT-239 worried, not for the first time they would be too visible the armor reminding him of a beacon he’d seen in some of their flash training when the light hit it right.</p><p>The ship lurched again, throwing some of the men into others, causing some to fall.  CC-275 said nothing, his look toward them saying enough.  Yes, they should have secured themselves, but they were nervous, they were all nervous, terrified, and didn’t know what to expect.  Flash training was one thing.  Being woken up in the middle of the night, being told the Jedi were there to collect you finally, get into your real armor (no that plastic training stuff) get your weapons and get onto ships, something while yes they had trained for they had almost never expected to have happen.</p><p>First batchers, all of them were.  That meant none of them on that ship had ever left the sterile environment of Kamino.  After almost ten years they had begun to think that maybe, just maybe the war they had been created for would never come, that they would never be needed, that they would spend their entire lives on the water planet locked in cycles of training, food, more training and sleep.  Some were content with that, not wanting to leave Kamino, those were usually the medics or the Commanders.  The ones with more training that knew what dangers they would face, or at least knew some of them in better details, the ones that assumed their brothers would be hurt or killed in future battles.  The ones close to medics also knew a bit of this reality, knew that the future if they should be involved in the war wouldn’t be as easy as some of the men seemed to think.  The vast majority though lived for the war, waiting and wanting nothing more than for a chance to go out there, to see the worlds and to fight, to put to use all of the training they had, and above all to prove themselves to the mystical Jedi they had been created for.  </p><p>Seeing the Jedi, that had almost done all of them in, even those skeptics among the bunch.  The first Jedi some had seen, the first on Kamino since they had been born had caused ripples in the gossip train among the men.  Only a handful had actually seen him, and those at first had difficulty convincing the others, the stories had varied between the men a bit till someone had started writing down the descriptions and began to pick apart what everyone agreed on.  Some of the men, younger ones instead of being excited had decided their brothers were imagining it, there was after all no way the Jedi could really be real after all this time.  Stories from the bounty hunters training them didn’t help, some of those were filled with such impossible things (after all could someone really jump so far it appeared they could fly) that the men had started to come up with theories of their own.  Jedi couldn’t be real, could they?</p><p>Then the little green Jedi arrived.</p><p>And everything went into a panic.</p><p>Routine got turned on it’s head.  Plans were suddenly changed.</p><p>And in just a few moments, Jedi went from being legend, a rumor a few men told to reality.</p><p>And their lives suddenly were changed, forever.</p><p>Some breathed a sigh of relief, the wait was over.  Others took a deep breath and prepared for the long haul, knowing no matter the outcome of this battle, their lives would be changed forever.  Some were excited, the thought that finally, finally they would get to go out, to see exactly what they had been preparing for.  It would be now that they got their chances to live the life they had been born for.</p><p>Moods had of course shifted.</p><p>It was one thing to be in a mood when you were suddenly woken up, told to get dressed.  It was another thing to feel that DC in your hands, the weight suddenly real as you followed orders, moving along with your batch onto the waiting ships.</p><p>Men talked, they got nervous, they got scared.</p><p>Ships entered hyperspace and those that could saw the stars vanish and go from speaks to streaks.</p><p>They started to get excited again.</p><p>Fear was slowly forgotten, as were the fears themselves, and instead excitement of the upcoming battle stared to spread.  For a time even those who were the most pessimistic, those who’d seen the flash videos, who had the training, who knew what war could bring forgot all that and instead focused on the excitement.  It was their first battle and they would be led by a real Jedi!</p><p>That stayed with them, surrounding them, firing them up.</p><p>The ships dropped out of hyperspace, men made their ways to gunships, they were loaded on and sent off ship.</p><p>The first waves were excited, as were the next and the next.</p><p>Then it was CT-239 and his brothers turns to leave the transport, to board a gunship, and to land on the planet.  CT-267 and CT-263 were both still excited, Ct-239 and CT-250 had fallen quiet however, moving as close to one another as the brothers could get till they were separated by other men boarding the ship. </p><p>Men kept leaving, no one was coming back, not even the wounded.  They were being sent down as fast as they could, get one ship back, send down more men.  Ct-239 didn’t like it, he knew they needed to transport them down, but for that many men to have gone down, and for them to still need more to clear a space for the big ships to land… he wasn’t sure he wanted to know how bad the fighting was on the planet.</p><p>The ship shifted again, and CT-239 was brought out of his thoughts, CT-250 was still looking at him, griping his DC as tight as he safely could.</p><p>“Get ready.” CC-275 suddenly spoke, clearly getting a message none of the other men had heard.  </p><p>The men shifted, any chatter they may have been having suddenly stopping, all eyes on the doors of the gunship now.</p><p>The ship set down with a thud and the lights changed from red to green as the doors swooshed open.</p><p>“Go.” CC-275’s voice was filled with urgency as he led his men from the ship.</p><p>Chaos, that was what meant them.  They fought the urge to pause and stare at the mess around them, instead following the Commander’s lead as he rushed out into the red dust the air was heavy with.  Their armors going from shiny white to instantly dirty in the dust, mud, and other muck that was being kicked up around them.  </p><p>“Set Comms to me only.” CC-275 broke into the chaos that their comms had irrupted into, his voice almost being drowned out by the constant stream of other words, commands, screams that they could suddenly hear.  CT-250 did as he was told, a moment too late he thought as screams of pain suddenly stopped, mid scream.  He knew why, those men, the medics wouldn’t find alive.</p><p>It hit him, the reality they were suddenly in.</p><p>“Follow me.” CC-275 broke into his thoughts and the men formed a loose line pushing their way past other men, “We have our orders, ignore these skirmishes.”  </p><p>CT-250 found his batch brother, wanting the reassurance and the stableness that CT-239 normally brought to their training sessions.  He didn’t comment simply falling into step beside his brother as they walked through the dust and the mud.  </p><p>Just mud, that’s all it was.  That’s what their minds insisted it was.  Just because it was colored like spilled motor oil from the droids they saw in pieces around them, alternating with the red color of the blood spilled from the bodies of their brothers they passed, that meant nothing.  It was just mud. </p><p>The only sounds they could hear now was their own breathing, and a startled yelp when CT-267 stumbled, almost falling into the muck.  A brother caught him, stabilizing him before he could fully fall, and the two quickly caught up the rest of the group.</p><p>CC-275 suddenly paused, nodding to himself.  “New target.” He spoke suddenly in their ears.</p><p>“Sir?”  no one could tell who spoke,</p><p>“We’re on a search and rescue mission now.” The commander explained and set the men off at double time.</p><p>*</p><p>They broke the top of a hill in time to meet up with a very frustrated looking woman, and an equally frustrated clone trooper.</p><p>“Senator?” CC-275 started, glancing between the two.  His men had come to a stop, slightly sounding the senator to try and shield her.</p><p>“Yes.” She sounded frustrated from that one word.  “I need to get-“</p><p>CC-275 cut her off, “No offence Ma’am, but our orders are to find you and get you to safety.  Here is not safe, neither is where you seem to want us to go.”</p><p>She glared at him for a moment before looking in the direction the Commander knew she would rather be going on.</p><p>“Ma’am, we have our orders.  I don’t want myself, or these boys to be reprimanded on our first mission out so if you could.” He motioned in a side direction, not towards the fighting or towards where she wanted to go.  “At least come with us so someone can look you over.  I was told to make sure you were safe.”</p><p>She sighed, kicking at the sand for a moment, clearly wanting to continue toward her goal rather than where the Commander wanted her to go.</p><p>“Fine, but once someone checks me out, I’ll need a ship.  I have to get…” She trailed off, not wanting to finish her sentence.</p><p>“That will be fine Ma’am, we’ll just get you checked out first.”  CC-275 told her, using the voice he’d used on younger troopers in training missions before.</p><p>She sighed one more time, clearly mad before she set out in the direction the Commander had pointed out.  Beside her the clone guarding her visibly relaxed and fell in line with the other men, a half circle still around her to protect the Senator, just in case.</p><p>They were able to get her back to a camp, where as it turned out a field medical station was located, and once they’d dropped her and the other trooper off CC-275 looked at his men again before nodding toward the door.</p><p>“We’re needed elsewhere.” He told them as he led them outside into the chaos of battle again.</p><p>“Getting the feeling this entire battle is going to be like this.” CT-250 spoke softly to his brother.  CT-239 nodded, but didn’t speak, not wanting to draw attention to them.</p><p>The Commander led them slowly through dust and more dirt till they stopped next to a figure wrapped in a cloak.</p><p>“Sir, we were told to report to you.” The Commander spoke.</p><p>The figure turned, pulling down it’s hood so it’s eyes could go over them unobstructed.  A dark blue face looked over them, what appeared to be a light feather down framing the feminine face, crusted with dust and dried tears.  “You must be CC-275?” She asked, her voice soft, the sound almost consumed by the sound of weapons fire.</p><p>“I am Sir.” The Commander confirmed.  </p><p>Her eyes for a moment looked sad as she looked over the men before she looked back at the fight.  “Come on, we’re needed to clear a path for ships to land and get the wounded out.  Take out any droids you see, but I do not want you getting hurt.  Is that clear?”  The order was there in her voice and each of the men answered with a ‘Yes sir’.  She moved them forward at a run, igniting her saber so the green shown as a spotlight amount the swirls of dust.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 2: The Nest</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They survived Geonosis.  None of them knew how, or cared, but the entire batch survived along with some of the other men they’d picked up.  And they earned a Jedi in that battle.  Seh-Leah, Jedi Knight, and now a new General.  She’d been offered the men whom she’d worked with and had jumped on a chance to take them as her own.</p><p>But now as a group they waited.  The men sitting on the ground, armor scuffed, but mostly clean, helmets in most of their laps as they sat waiting.</p><p>Their General was at the other end of the room, talking to a  few of the older Jedi Generals about something.  From her movements she was slightly agitated.  Not enough to worry the men too much, but enough for them to keep an eye on her.</p><p>The clone Commander sat near the head of the men, his own eyes on the Jedi as she moved.</p><p>The men fell quiet suddenly as the sound of Jedi boots walking toward them could be heard as their Jedi and the others made their way across the room of the hanger.  They’d been transported to a space station after the battle but they had no idea why.  No one had told the clones anything aside from where to go, and where to wait so they’d done as instructed simply waiting, eyes saying more to one another then any words could.</p><p>“Commander.” A male Jedi spoke before Leah could.</p><p>CC-275 stood quickly, falling into a formal stance.  “Sir.” He kept his eyes looking forward.</p><p>CT-239 watched the Jedi noting how he wasn’t sure how to take the response from their Commander.  The unsure expression lasted for a moment then he looked from the Commander over the men, his eyes meeting CT-239’s for an instant.</p><p>“The ship you’re waiting on will be here in a few minutes.  Get everyone together and be ready to move onto the ship when it gets here.”  The jedi finished speaking and immediately moved away, talking to their Jedi again for a moment before he moved off.</p><p>Leah gave them an uneasy smile and nodded.  As one the men stood, some stretching, other’s simply waiting for the next direction.</p><p>“Ready for our next adventure?”  She asked them softly.</p><p>Several ambitions ‘yes sirs’ could be heard but CT-239 didn’t answer, instead looking down for a moment.</p><p>A soft thud was heard and the sound of mechanics as docking clamps attached the ship to the station.</p><p>“Sir, your ship is here.” A trooper told them, moving quickly toward the group.  “If your men are ready they should be able to board now.”  The trooper looked up quickly between his paperwork and the men.  His armor was shiny, clean, unscuffed, clearly never having seen a single battle.  Briefly some of the men wondered if this trooper had even ever left the safety of the station they were standing on.</p><p>“Thank you.” Leah told him softly, and he nodded toward the General before rushing off to do some other paperwork or task.</p><p>“CC-275, if you could take the men to the ship and get them settled into a barracks.”  </p><p>He nodded, pulling on his helmet as he walked leading the other men forward.</p><p>Leah moved through the men, stopping CT-239 with a gentle touch to his arm.  “What’s wrong?”  She asked him, pulling him to the side.  They followed the men but at a slower pace.</p><p>“Nothing Sir.” The young trooper spoke, insecurity clear in his voice.</p><p>“But yet, you looked worried when I spoke.  What’s wrong?  You can tell me you know.”</p><p>“I know Sir, it’s just.” The trooper stopped, frustrated as he stared into his helmet as if it held the answers, “I got a bad feeling suddenly, one that just came out of nowhere.  I don’t know why but for some reason this feeling like something bad would happen.” He admitted softly.</p><p>The Jedi didn’t speak for a few moments as they walked.  “And have you had feelings like this before?” She finally asked.</p><p>He wasn’t sure how to answer her, watching the form of CT-250 wait for them without looking like he was waiting.  “Once or twice sir.”</p><p>“And what happened when you got these feelings?”</p><p>He paused again, suddenly wishing he hadn’t said anything.  “Bad things.” He didn’t elaborate, instead looking down as they walked, “But this feeling isn’t like those times, it’s more…. it’s like a light buzz instead of something screaming at me.”</p><p>The jedi glanced at him again trying to read the clone, but didn’t speak.</p><p>“I’m sorry sir, can we just forget it?  I’m probably just nervous after that first battle.” He looked up, but looked beyond her, refusing to look her in the eyes. </p><p>“We can…. For now.” She told him.  They’d made it to the ship.  The rest of her men were waiting, clustered around the doorway till she got there.</p><p>“You can go inside.” She told them with a laugh, and motioned for her Commander to take the men in.</p><p>“Just thought you’d like to be the first one inside Sir.” CC-275 told her, “It is your ship after all.”</p><p>“And it is yours as well.” She reminded them, but stepped around the men anyway to walk into the ship.  Behind her, her men followed in small groups.</p><p>She lightly touched the walls and smiled before looking back at them.  “CC-275 because of your rank you’ll be assigned your own room.” She paused long enough for him to sir her before she continued.  “Your batch and the men they worked with on Geonosis will be in one barracks, I’d like them to form into a company.” Again the Commander nodded, “Pick out a few others from the men we’ll be getting in the next few days for the company as well.  The others can pick bunks in the other barracks.”</p><p>She motioned for them to follow her and they did almost silently.  She palmed open a door and lead the men into a room.  “This will be the company’s barracks.  I’ll give you time to decide on your name for it and we’ll vote.”  She looked at each of the men for a moment.  “On that note as well… I want each of you to think, and decide upon names.  You have a few days so don’t rush but I don’t want to have to keep calling you numbers, it doesn’t seem right to me.”</p><p>The men shifted suddenly uncomfortable.  “But Sir, that’s against regulations…”</p><p>“I know, and I don’t care.  While we’re working together, I’ll call you by your chosen names.  My people would view it as an insult if I had to keep calling you by a cold, unipersonal number.  You’re men, you’re my men, you deserve names.”</p><p>“Sir….” The voice trailed off suddenly unsure.</p><p>“If anyone has an issue with it they can speak to me.” Their Jedi told them.  </p><p>The clones glanced around toward one another for a moment.</p><p>“Sir, we’ve never thought about names…” CT-263 started off slowly.</p><p>She nodded to them.  “And you’re not sure where to even start?”</p><p>The men gave various forms of confirmation.</p><p>“Watch some halovids? We’ll be in port for a bit while we pick up other men.” She paused for another moment, “I can issue you datapads and let you read about other worlds as well.”</p><p>“Your world sir?”</p><p>She laughed light, “Yes my world as well.  Get settled in and I’ll be sure to get you those pads.”</p><p>Her Commander lightly tapped her arm to get her attention and she nodded at him.  “Take your time everyone, there isn’t any rush.” She told them as she left quickly to see to some task.</p><p>The men looked at one another in silence for a minute before they slowly moved to various beds, testing the softness of the mattresses.</p><p>“So we just relax and wait?” CT-263 asked suddenly.</p><p>“Sounds like.  I’m going to test out the ships showers.  Get some of the dust from Geonosis off.” CT-267 told his brothers, making a line for the freshers.</p><p>A few other’s shrugged and followed his lead, intent on getting the muck from the battlefield off of them.</p><p>“We all probably should get clean, and clean our armors.”  Someone spoke softly.  The men moved, talking softly amongst themselves as they either showered or cleaned armor, or just sat to think.</p><p>*</p><p>“Did you know?” CT-250 broke the silence the room had fallen into some time later, “Our General is descended from birds?”</p><p>The men paused looking at him like he was nuts.  </p><p>“It’s true.  She’s Atlantian, they’re a bird like race.” He continued.</p><p>His brother, CT-239 stole the pad from him and quickly skimmed it.  “We’ll he’s right at least.  Their planet looks pretty at least.” He shrugged handing the pad back to his brother.</p><p>Around the room the men shifted, opening up their own pads to information on their Jedi’s world.</p><p>Yes, she was descended from birds, what they had assumed was fur on her face was actually very thin, very well kept feather down.  The peoples on the planet were all different colors, all covered in feathers, and all seemed at peace from what the men could gather.  Their world was like one they’d never seen, covered in water, but peaceful, not chaotic like Kamino, and blue and clear, so clear they could see the bottoms of lakes even in pictures.</p><p>“I kind of want to visit that place.” A voice spoke softly from the back of the room.</p><p>“Yeah, I know what you mean.”</p><p>“Hey?  What do you think?”  CT-250 poked his brother, CT-239 in the side to get his attention.</p><p>“Aside from you being crazy?  I think I know where your mind is going…” He trialed off as he looked back at the text in front of him.</p><p>*</p><p>The clone Commander, CC-275, Drake stood at the airlock watching as what would be the last of the men they were getting at that time slowly made their way onto the ship.  A week had passed and after much reading and research the men had decided on a few things.  They were Broken Wing, the company at least.  All the men had agreed and Leah had laughed at the name but approved it anyway.  She wasn’t insulted as a few of them had feared, if anything she’d seemed sad, almost touched at the name.  She’d also understood the inner meaning for the men, both as them being trapped in the war, and both as an homage to her and her people.  As with the ship the men had also chosen names along various themes, loosely related to her or her people or world.</p><p>“That’s the last of them Sir.” He called via the comms.</p><p>“Understood, thank you Drake.” The female voice responded, “Show them to their barracks and I’ll be down to meet them soon.”</p><p>The comm cut off as he led the men down hallways and to their new rooms.  Ever so slightly, so gently the ship shuttered, then began to move.  The 109th Battalion finally was off to their first missions.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 3: Interlude: Of Stripes, Feathers, and Hair</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tobias, CT-239 had been looking at himself in the mirror for a bit, before looking to his brothers around him, then back to himself.  They had been on the ship for a few weeks and had at least decided on names, that night however they would decide on an armor color and finally paint their armors.  They were by no means shines, but the GAR had only now decided that men could mark themselves with painted armor to distinguish themselves on the battlefield.</p><p>The GAR said it made sense so they could tell what trooper belonged to what battalion.</p><p>The clones had wanted it so at least armor wise they wouldn’t look like one another, even if they all had the same face under it.</p><p>That morning they’d gotten the word, ‘we get to be painted’, striped as some of the men were calling it.  That morning they’d been told to talk together and decide a color.</p><p>After some fighting they had selected three, their top pick, followed by two back ups in case the others had been claimed, now all they had to do was wait for Drake to get Leah to look over their ideas and approve it.</p><p>“What’s wrong Tobias?”  Raven cut into his thoughts settling down beside his brother.</p><p>“Nothing… just thinking..”</p><p>“I can tell, you only look like that when something is bugging you.  What’s up Toby?”</p><p>“Nothing.”</p><p>Peg settled down next to his brothers, “So what’s wrong with Toby?”</p><p>Tobias sighed, “Nothing is wrong with me… it’s just…”</p><p>“Yes?”  His brothers looked at him, clearly trying to figure out where their brother was going with his thoughts.</p><p>“If we’re painting our armors later so we stand apart…. We still all look the same.” He watched in the mirror as his brothers looked at him, then themselves, then him again.</p><p>“And it’s a shame we can’t look different?”  Raven finally nudged.  He was looking at Tobias’s reflection, “Some customization that sets us apart as men even without armor.”</p><p>“GAR would never go for that.” Caw reminded them.</p><p>“Well… what if we don’t tell them?”  Peg asked.</p><p>Caw gave them a look that said he clearly thought his batch was going crazy, “Not tell them?”</p><p>“Yeah I men it could work….” Raven trailed off.</p><p>“I’m with Crow on this.  They would find out one way or another.”  Tobias told them, looking between his batch.</p><p>“Not if we don’t tell them.”  Raven told them, Peg nodding as he spoke.  “We don’t see the Republic that often, GAR medics don’t treat us.  And when do we ever go on missions without helmets on?  How would anyone know.”</p><p>“Clear it with the General first.”  Drake cut in.</p><p>His brothers jumped slightly, not having heard the Commander walk in.</p><p>“Ask her about it later, she’ll either say your all nuts or help you get this set up.”  Drake told them, “She wants us now thought.  Pitch the idea to her at the meeting, toward the end?”  </p><p>The brothers looked at one another for a moment before slowly moving to follow their Commander. This would be the meeting they all knew they had been waiting for, for a while.</p><p>*</p><p>“I think it’s a wonderful idea.” Leah told her men.  Raven had pitched their idea to her at the end of the meeting.  “Do you know what designs and colors?”</p><p>“We were thinking the same color or similar to our armors, and designs….. we didn’t think that far ahead yet.  We thought you’d say no…” Caw trailed off.</p><p>She nodded, “I still think it’ a good idea, just let me see it when you’re done?  I’ll get the dye and ink kits the next time we stop for supplies.” She told them, calming them down a bit more.  “You just need to think of the designs.”</p><p>“Now that that’s settled….” Drake trialed off looking at their armors, “We have the paint, we may as well customize those.”</p><p>The men laughed slightly and moved across the room to grab the brushes they would need to customize their armor.</p><p>*</p><p>“Tobias?”  Raven asked.</p><p>He turned to his brother, Raven, like him had dyed his hair green, and shaved part of his head, into a mullet, as opposed to Tobias who had shaved half of his head while dying the other half.  The others had cut and dyed various patterns into their hair as well, while Drake had only died it.</p><p>“What’s wrong?”  He asked cocked his head to his side.</p><p>“What about the tattoos?  The General offered us those as well.”</p><p>“I know…” Tobias trailed off.</p><p>“Any idea design wise?”  </p><p>“Wings, feathers, maybe birds?’  Peg cut in.</p><p>“I was gonna suggest that to him Peg.” Raven shot his brother a look.</p><p>“Just saved you the trouble is all Raven.” Peg smiled at him.</p><p>Raven tolled his eyes but didn’t take the bait.  “Well Toby?”</p><p>Tobias nodded after a moments pause, “Run it past the General?”</p><p>“Already did, she said it’s okay… so now all we need is to learn how to do tattoos after we get a kit.” Peg told them,</p><p>“Got the kit.” Caw told them cutting into the conversation.</p><p>Tobias started at the two, “You already had this decided before you walked in didn’t you.” </p><p>Peg managed to look innocent, but Caw looked a bit guilty.</p><p>“All right, who do you want to do the tattoos?”  He crossed his arms while looking at his brothers.</p><p>“We were hoping you would Toby.  You read a lot and we figured maybe you’d read about how to do this?”  Peg asked.  “If anyone could figure it out it would be you.</p><p>“Aside from a medic?  I’m sure they would know what to do, they do work with needles.”</p><p>The two glanced to one another.  “They said they were too busy to mess with stupid hobbies like learning how to tattoo when there are ‘two of them and a battalion of men who insist upon testing their training from Kamino to the limit’” Peg told him, quoiting what the medics had been telling them.</p><p>“Sounds like the medics?”  Raven shrugged.</p><p>“It sadly does…”  Tobias sighed.  “Fine… I’ll figure them out how its done and try them… but” He glared at his brothers, “If I mess them up it’s not my fault.”</p><p>“All right, we get it, it won’t be your fault Toby.” Raven assured him, “But we’ve never seen you fail something you put your mind to.”</p><p>“Feathers and wings huh?”  He asked, again before opening his data pad to pull up images and instructions while his brothers nodded.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 4: Of Mud</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mud. </p><p>There was mud everywhere.  </p><p>It was months later and the men were on a mission, scout, find the Separatist base, and inform the GAR proper where it was.  CT-239, Tobias was at the head of a group of men, trying very hard not to fall down a cliff.</p><p>“See anything Toby?” His comm suddenly opened to CT-250, Raven.</p><p>“Nothing here.  We’re soaked though.” </p><p>“Same out here.” Raven told him.  “I think this may be a bust, none of the other teams have found anything.</p><p>“Keep looking.” The voice of Drake cut into their conversation.  “At least for another hour.  If no one’s found anything by then I’ll tell everyone to come back in.”</p><p>They didn’t confirm anything to him, but in the background they could hear Preigrin, CT-267 and Crow, CT-263 confirm they heard Drake.  Tobias muted the group comm again, reminding himself that Drake was still nervous about men being out on their own and still tended to monitor all stations as much as possible.</p><p>Tobias watched one of the men that was with him shiver and stumble in the mud as they started forward again.</p><p>“Hot tea?” He offered once to Raven.</p><p>“After hot showers.” His brother confirmed, “See you in a few hours Toby.”</p><p>His comms went quiet again and he led the men onward, trying to pick the easiest and driest path that he could for them In the nonstop thunderstorm the planet they were on seemed to have.</p><p>*</p><p>“All right, I give up.  Bring everyone back in.” Drake suddenly sounded in his ears.  He’d been pulling one of his men from a mud/sludge sink hole when Drake commed them.  For a moment Raven ignored his commander.</p><p>The trooper sank further in the sludge.</p><p>“I need help.” He suddenly called, his grip slipping.</p><p>“Raven?!”  Tobias sounded panicked, Raven was one to never ask for aid.</p><p>“Raven, where and what do you need?”  Drake suddenly tense.</p><p>“I have his location.”  One of the medics cut in, sending the data to his Commander.  </p><p>“What’s going on?”  Drake demanded again.</p><p>Raven didn’t answer.  </p><p>When they got to him his arms were wrapped tightly around the wrist of a man, a death grip on the trooper the only thing keeping the shiny from fully vanishing into the mud.  His helmet top and wrist the only thing visible.  Raven himself had started to be pulled in as well, and was struggling to keep his grip on a tree he’d wrapped his legs around.  Two of his men holding tightly onto the Sargent as well.</p><p>“Three of my men are down there.” He spoke, strain clean in his voice.  “They’re still in contact with me, and they’ve kept a death grip on one another in that muck.”</p><p>He knew his brothers were looking at him in disbelief.  </p><p>Drake checked the comms to be sure.  “They’re alive.  As long as their blacks stay sealed they should be okay in there, as long as they keep attached to one another.”</p><p>The Commander weighted his options for a moment, “Everyone stay back, I don’t want more men sucked down there.”</p><p>“But Sir-“</p><p>Drake shook his head, “Get rope, we tie it around Raven then pull.  Raven do not let those men go.”</p><p>Raven nodded but didn’t speak, afraid to say anything that may distract himself.  He was also exhausted, and not sure how long he could hold onto those men for.</p><p>“Drake?”  Seh-Leah asked as she came into view, her own small group of men that she’d been scouting with behind her.</p><p>“Sir, you may want to stay away from the mud.”</p><p>The Jedi didn’t answer, her eyes going over the situation for a moment before she closed them, feeling in the force beyond what her eyes could see.  “Can you pull Raven out if he lets go of the others?”  She asked, opening her eyes.</p><p>“Yes sir, but if we do that we’ll lose the men.”</p><p>She shook her head, “You won’t.” She assured her troopers, “Once Raven is out of the way I’ll bring the others up.”</p><p>The men immediately moved, though Raven paused for a moment, scared to release the men.</p><p>“It will be fine Raven.”  She reassured him.</p><p>He closed his eyes and let go of the trooper.  A panicked sound was heard over the comms from the man just as soon as that sounded Drake cut in, telling him to relax, their General had it under control</p><p>Raven was pulled back and Leah closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax.  The Jedi outstretched her hand for a moment stilling, not moving at all then she smiled faintly and gently pulled up the first trooper.  He was clearly freaked out, but forcing himself to stay still as the jedi gently floated him to the ground next to the gathered medics.  She repeated the same practice for the other two men.</p><p>“Was that all?”  She asked, a slight strain in her voice.  She had yet to open her eyes, keeping her connection to the Force as strong as she could.</p><p>“Yes Ma’am, that’s all.” Raven confirmed from the ground.</p><p>She nodded, dropping her arm, “Good.” Opening her eyes she smiled lightly at Drake.  “I think we can call this mission a bust.  Bring in the men so they can get cleaned up, fed and rested.  I’ll call and let the council know there’s’ nothing on this planet.”</p><p>“Except mud.” One of the men muttered.</p><p>She laughed softly, “I doubt they would be interested in mud though.”</p><p>“I’m not interested in mud.” Another man grumbled from the group.  It was impossible to tell in the group of clones that were slowly leaving exactly who said it, but the Jedi wasn’t too worried.  The men were as frustrated, cold, and wet as she was.  Blacks may have repealed water the same way her feathers did, but this cold was different somehow, it seemed to sink into you no matter how many layers you had on.</p><p>She gave the men that had been buried alive a second once over as the medics lifted them to take them into camp.  “Let me know how they are.” She told the nearest medic, who nodded and confirmed they would.  As far as they could tell now the men were just shaken up.</p><p>“Republic ingenuity and design.” Drake told her as they walked, he tapped his own armor lightly, “Its amazingly strong enough to stand up to mud.” He joked.  She laughed softly, and he found himself smiling under his helmet.</p><p>The lightning flashed again lighting up her exposed feather pattern and she glanced up into the rain.  </p><p>“We should go sir, before any of the men come back out in this mess to look for us.” Drake reminded her.</p><p>She nodded and let him lead her threw the rain to the camp.</p><p>*</p><p>“All the men are fine Ma’am.” A medic told her as soon as he saw her come in from the rain.  “A bit muddy, but nothing a shower won’t fix.  And a long armor cleaning session.”</p><p>She nodded her thanks, “We’ll get back to the ship as soon as we can.  Just have them, all of them, Raven included take it easy till then.”</p><p>“Ma’am.” He gave her a quick salute then vanished back toward the men.  He was a newer trooper, still not used to some of the formality the 109th tended to drop.</p><p>She glanced up, looking at the cave ceiling.  They’d been lucky enough to find a cave large enough to set up camp in.  they still had the standard tents up for privacy and so one could tell where the mess vs the medic station was, but the area was at least dry.  And she knew, what most of the men were grateful for, it lacked mud.</p><p>She and Drake walked through the camp toward the mess.  She knew the cooks had tried to make a soup this time, given what rations they normally had anything would be a decent break.  Upon entering the tent she was handed a cup of steaming broth by Tobias.  She took a deep breath, and smiled at him, it did smell like soup, though the meat base was something she wasn’t sure she wanted to know.</p><p>Her Sargent took at as a sign it was okay to leave and settled down on a small collection of blankets next to his brother.  Raven had peeled off his armor, and blacks and gotten into fresh ones.  He now sat, curled under several blankets with his still filthy armor behind him.  Clenched in his hand was a cup of soup for himself, while a cup of steaming caff sat in front of him for when he was ready for it.  Tobias slowly drank his own soup, keeping half an eye on Raven while he watched the other men in the room.  Leah knew those two would be inseparable for the next few days, the bond between those batch brothers stronger than any of the others.</p><p>Leah took her eyes from the men and thumbed open her own data pad while she slowly sipped the hot liquid.  It was good, warming, better then cold rations after the weather and the scare the men had just all had.  She still couldn’t place the meat, and just barely stopped herself from researching what types of mammals lived on the planet.  Instead she opened a document and set a quick note to the council, letting them know they had found nothing and would be leaving the planet in a few hours.  With the message sent she wrapped her hands around the mug letting the soup warm her hands.</p><p>“Are we leaving then?” Drake asked cautiously.  The Commander had set down next to her, with a cup of his own and watched his Jedi type out the message.</p><p>She nodded, “When all of the teams are in, and the medics are sure it’s safe to move men.  We’ll send up Raven and the men he almost lost with Tobias on the first ship.”  Both Raven and Tobias glanced up at their names but didn’t ask her what was going on.  Instead they went back to their drinks after a moment.  “We’ll send the other teams up in order of who’s been out the longest.  I’m sure all the men want hot showers at this point.”</p><p>Several men said something confirming the statement, and Peg mentioned a warm bed after, but the room quickly settled into quiet once again.  The only sound was the men lightly sipping the warm drinks in front of them.</p><p>*</p><p>Raven shivered from the mouth of the cave as the gunship dropped down.  He’d gotten back into his armor after much grumbling, though he did agree it was easier to carry it that way, and was currently helping move one of the men who’d almost died.  He ignored the fact that he’d almost died as well and suppressed another shiver.  Tobias gave him a concerned look, the look clear even if he was helmeted, but didn’t say anything.  His brother helping him carry the litter containing the trooper to the gunship.</p><p>“Ready sirs?”  A Corporal asked them helping to load the men.</p><p>“Ready?  To get off this Force forsaken mud pit?”  Raven asked.</p><p>“He’s ready.” Tobias confirmed.</p><p>Once the stretcher was secured Raven found somewhere to sit, still exhausted from that day.  The medics and other men on the ship with them were silent, everyone glancing at one another as the ship slowly rose.</p><p>“At least Peg or Caw isn’t here to make a bad joke.” </p><p>Raven glanced at him in question.</p><p>“About the ship being struck by lightning.” Tobias explained.</p><p>Glares of men that didn’t out rank him were thrown toward him as Raven sighed.</p><p>“No offense sir, but don’t joke.” A Private asked, practically begging from his stretcher.</p><p>“To be fair it would have been bad luck if he didn’t.” Raven reminded the men.  “Still, bad joke Toby.”</p><p>Tobias smiled a bit under his helmet but didn’t say anything else.  He was content to remain quiet until they got to the ship.</p><p>*</p><p>Raven sighed in exhaustion when they made it to their own barracks, Tobias’s arm around his shoulders the only thing keeping him up right and moving.  He looked at the fresher then down to his armor and sighed again, hands slowly moving to undo it.</p><p>“Keep it on.” Tobias told him, still walking him forward.  “Use the water from the shower to get the worst of it off, that way it’s easier to clean later.”  He told his brother.  </p><p>He let Raven pick the shower head then turned it on to a warm setting, watching as the mud slowly fell from this brother’s armor revealing the white armor accented with sea green below it.  When he was sure Raven could stand on his own he went to take his own shower, following the same process to remove what mud the water could before he stripped.  The feeling of hot water hitting his skin made him almost gasp in surprise, shivers he didn’t know he had slowly fading as he relaxed.</p><p>“Don’t fall asleep over there.” Raven cautioned.</p><p>Tobias threw some water at him then closed his eyes, simply leaning under the spray.  “It’s nice to be warm again.”  He told his brother.</p><p>“Warm, and dry when we want?”  Raven asked.  “Never thought I’d be so glad to get on the ship again.</p><p>Peg and Caw walked in a moment later, giving their brothers a look, before they glanced down to the mostly clean armors, then looked at one another before they vanished from the freshers again.</p><p>“Think we started something?”  Tobias asked, finally turning off his water.  He went to dry off before picking up his armor.</p><p>“Probably.” Raven told him, watching as the other two came back in, this time in full armor.  They copied what Tobias and Raven had done and stood under a shower head to get the mud off.  “Makes more sense doing it that way anyway.” Raven added.</p><p>Raven followed his brother form the room after gathering up his own armor and to his bed without another word.  Never had the fresh linins and pillows looked so inviting to him.  He collapsed onto his bed after dropping his armor nearby, and was barely conscious enough to pull the blanket over himself before he fell into the blessed oblivion of sleep.</p><p>Tobias watched him for a moment, making sure his vod was okay before he too settled into his own bed.  Sleep came a bit harder to him, but in no time, before the others were even back he too was dreaming of better times, and easier days.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter: 5: Atlantia</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Please keep in mind this story starts off at the start of the Clone Wars.  This chapter is a few months into it, and going on the ideas presented by Karen Traviss it had not yet been decided that clones needed leave.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Seh-Leah stalked the deck of her ship angerly.  She’d requested shore leave three time for her men so far, each time was told no and given a different reason why.  After several months of fighting she knew her men needed a break and the GAR refused to accept that.  The final reason confirmed this, the clones were not being given leave, it was decided they didn’t need it.</p><p>Angerly she stalked, packing.  Her men kept giving her worried looks but didn’t speak, instead opting to give her a wide birth, worried for their own safety as much as hers.  They had never seen their Jedi like this and didn’t know exact what she would do in anger.</p><p>The doors opened to the bridge and in walked Drake followed by his batch.  He swore the men breathed a sigh of relief when they saw them.</p><p>“Ma’am?”  Drake asked cautiously as he walked up to her.</p><p>She didn’t seem to hear him and didn’t stop her angry pacing.</p><p>“Leah!” He used his command tone to get her attention. </p><p>Everyone on the bridge froze and looked at him, his Jedi included.</p><p>“Sorry sir, but you didn’t hear me.  What’s wrong General?” Drake asked.  He didn’t look sorry, he appeared slightly annoyed that he needed to use that tone with her at all.</p><p>“The stupid (she launched into a tirade of her own language’s curse words) GAR is refusing to give you any leave, at all.  They keep rejecting my request.”</p><p>The men glanced at one another.</p><p>“To be fair ma’am, no one in the GAR, clone wise gets shore leave.” Raven cautiously spoke, glancing at his general while he talked, “Clones aren’t considered as needing leave according to GAR regulations”</p><p>She shook her head, “It’s not right.” She knew she sounded like a child throwing a temper tantrum but she didn’t care.</p><p>“No ma’am, it isn’t, but there isn’t a lot we can do about it either.” Drake cut in, trying to let his jedi calm down slowly.   </p><p>She glared at the floor for a few moments in anger as she thought.  “I need to call the Council.”’</p><p>The men looked at one another in confusion.</p><p>“Is something wrong ma’am?”  Drake asked cautiously.</p><p>“No, nothing wrong.”  She looked over her men in thought, “I just think…” she shook her head and went to the back of the room to make a call.</p><p>Drake looked at his brothers, confusion as well as concern on his face.  He glanced toward where she’d gone, but didn’t move from his spot.  The bridge fell quiet, but all they could hear was her voice tone, not the actual words.</p><p>“She doesn’t sound too angry.” Peg cautiously commented.</p><p>“Just angry enough…” Crow gave her a cautious glance, as he spoke very softly.</p><p>The men stay where they were till their jedi hung up, obviously content with the result of her call.</p><p>“Sir?”  Raven asked, watching her body language.  </p><p>She had clearly calmed down as she walked toward them, but didn’t answer, glancing instead to helm.  “You have the directions that were sent to you?”</p><p>“Yes sir?”  The man looked at her in confusion.</p><p>Good, we’re leaving for there right now.  This mission is done and I need to take care of something before the next.”</p><p>The men looked at one another before the navigator nodded, “As you wish sir.” He entered the location and waited for her nod before the ship suddenly jumped to hyperspace.</p><p>“Ma’am?”  Drake asked, concern and confusion clear in his voice.</p><p>“It’s nothing Drake, just an errand.  Oh and make sure the men know that language I gave them before we get there.  At least enough to say basic phrases.”  She told them.  “I need to take care of some other things.  We should be in hyperspace for two days though.”  Her men were looking at her in clear concern still, “Don’t worry, see me later tonight after dinner and I’ll explain.” She told them before leaving the room to head for her own.</p><p>“Well?”  Caw asked in confusion.</p><p>“That language is her own you know.  Her native planet’s… if she wants us to learn that…” Tobias trailed off looking to his batch.</p><p>“I’ll let the men know to study that language.  Just make sure all of you know it too.  Probably should learn it more than just for basic conversation if we’re all guessing the same thing.”  Drake told them, looking toward the doors their Jedi had vanished threw.</p><p>“You don’t actually think Leah would kidnap an entire battalion just cause she’s mad, do you?”  Peg glanced to his brothers.</p><p>“Technically, it’s not kidnapping, it’s stealing.”  Raven told him.</p><p>“Barrowing without permission.” Tobias offered, “At least she intends to give us back… maybe.” He shrugged, “We should go start to study.  I’ve only brushed over it a few times, and there’s no way I’m even conversational yet.”</p><p>Raven smiled to his brothers, “At least Toby gets an excuse to stay up late reading now.”</p><p>Tobias glared a bit at Raven but didn’t answer, instead he left the room calling back, “You all should probably join me you know.”</p><p>“He is right, you may want to get a move on.  You’re her company, it would look bad if you couldn’t speak the language.” Drake told them, motioning for them all to leave while he went to send the ship wide announcement.</p><p>*</p><p>Raven lay on his bed occasionally glancing at his brothers as they relaxed reading.  Occasionally one would call out a word and someone would answer in translation.  They were working from both basic to Atlantian, and vise versa.</p><p>Tobias randomly added corrections to pronunciation, but other then that he stayed out of the game, too intent on whatever was on his datapad.</p><p>It was a few hours later when their jedi entered the room, her eyes glancing over the men.  She was visibly more relaxed and looked happy about something.</p><p>“Sir?”  come the question from the bed.</p><p>She smiled at him.</p><p>“Feel better sir?”</p><p>“Yes, thank you Caw.”</p><p>“Then if we may be so bold as to ask sir…” Peg tailed off looking at his brother, “What exactly is going on?  And where are we going?”</p><p>She looked at her men for a moment, “I’ll tell you in a minute.” She assured them and called Drake to come to the barracks, “When he gets here, he’s just as confused as you are.”</p><p>He assured her was on the way, confusion clear in his voice.  It was even more clear he was confused when he entered the room.</p><p>“No offence ma’am, but what is going on?”  The commander sounded slightly frustrated.</p><p>“I’m telling you now Drake.”  He looked at her, still concerned but slowly relaxed.</p><p>“All right….”  She motioned for him to take a seat with the others.  “You all know the GAR refuses to allow you leave?”  The men nodded, “I refuse to accept that.”</p><p>“We kinda figured you weren’t happy about it sir.”  Caw told her gently.</p><p>“Well… you see… I called the council and told them there was a religious holiday on my planet that I needed to attend, and due to my family’s ranking on the planet it would be rude if I didn’t.  So I told them I had to go.  They of course offered me my own ship a small transport to take me there while someone else over saw all you of.  I told them that wouldn’t be necessary I had my own ship and could travel there on my own, with all of you.’</p><p>“And they were okay with that?”  Raven asked cautiously.</p><p>“No, but I lost the signal due to interference before they could yell too much.”  She told them with a shrug.  “Anyway, we’re going to arrive in about two days.  I’ve sent all of you information on the culture you need to know, in addition to the language.  If you could look that over, so you know what to expect.”</p><p>All eyes landed on Tobias.</p><p>“Bet Toby has already….”</p><p>“Been reading it for the past hour.” Tobias cut off Raven, “Yeah, I’m alternating the language and the customs.</p><p>“Explains why he wasn’t playing the game with us.” Peg shrugged.</p><p>“I’ll let you boys get back to it, if you have any questions please let me know.”</p><p>She left them with a nod, and a sly smile.</p><p>Drake waited till the doors closed before shaking his head, looking toward his men, “We probably shoulda guessed she’d pull something like that.”</p><p>“We kind of did.”</p><p>“I meant before when she was starting to get mad.” Drake explained, “Knowing her, this really isn’t too surprising.”</p><p>“It kind of is though Drake, we’re GAR property.  She’s stealing us for an unknown amount of time.  If the GAR needs us…”</p><p>“They have other battalions.  Relax.” Peg cut in.  “Other, larger battalions, we tiny, its not like they’ll even miss us.”</p><p>“Oh they’ll miss us.  I bet someone already misses us and is figuring out exactly how much this little trip is costing the GAR.  The issue is they can’t do anything about it.” Tobias told them, settling back down to read.</p><p>“They could replace her as our Jedi?  Or she could be in trouble.”  Raven offered.  He had a feeling Tobias knew something the others didn’t know.</p><p>“No, they can’t.  Not with her at least.  Didn’t you hear how she worded it?  That due to her family she was needed?”</p><p>“Yeah, but what has that got to do with anything Toby?”</p><p>“She’s a member of the Seh clan, that clan is the ruling body on the planet.  It’s almost like telling a senator or member of a royal family no.  They just can’t do that.”</p><p>“And you know this how?”  Peg asked, eyeing his brother.</p><p>“The family name is in the notes about the planet she gave us?  It has what rank they have and their role in society, it’s all in the text.”</p><p>“The text which Tobias was reading while he ignored us.” Raven cut in.  “Makes sense why you were ignoring us.”</p><p>“Also makes sense why she wants us to be able to talk in her language, and know the customs, so we don’t insult anyone.”</p><p>“Also helps most of the plant doesn’t speak basic.”  Drake added before he began to leave.</p><p>“That helps as well.  Would be helpful to be able to ask for help when we need it, or thank our hosts for food or drunk… or where the fresher was.” Tobias added.</p><p>Drake laughed from the door “Imagine asking for the fresher only to be shown a drink station.” He looked at Peg for a moment, clearly envisioning it before he left.</p><p>Everyone glanced at Peg when he did and the clones sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.  “I wouldn’t you know.”</p><p>“If you insist Peg.” Raven told him, settling down to read again.</p><p>*</p><p>The men of Broken wing were gathered on the bridge as the ship dropped out of hyper space.  Everyone was quiet with an anticipation that had spread throughout the ship.</p><p>“That’s it.” She spoke as soon as the star streaks had faded to regular stars.  In front of them was a planet, green and blue.  A few white puffy clouds could be seen.  Orbiting it were several moons.</p><p>“The moons are old colonies we abandoned when the plague hit our people.  Everyone settled on the home planet because there were so few left.”</p><p>She watched as the planet came closer.  “You should be receiving coordinates for landing.  Just follow those down.”  She told helm.  </p><p>“We are sir.  Preparing to descend and land now.”</p><p>The ship, the nest was small, only holding a base crew.  While that meant less men in the battalion it also meant the ship could easily do things like land when it visited a planet.  They landed plenty of times for missions, to refuel or pick up supplies.  It only made sense that they would land to visit a planet such as this.</p><p>“Descent in progress.”  </p><p>She nodded but didn’t speak, instead watching as the ship slowed, slowly dipping threw the atmosphere.  The view changed to that of mountains, trees, fields and rivers.  A few of the men gasped a bit in shock as the sunset they were flying into caught on the water.</p><p>Then the view was gone and the ship was touching down in a very large field, what appeared to be an abandoned farmers filed.  No crops to be seen but a group of people were coming toward the ship.</p><p>“Because there’s so many of us, Broken Wing, you’ll be with me.  Everyone else divide into your normal squads, Drake should have sent you teams so you know who you’re with?”  Drake nodded.  “We’ll have each of the teams come down and send them to a feast site, then we’ll go to our own.”</p><p>Drake nodded again, pulling out his pad.  </p><p>“As long as you boys don’t mind waiting a bit.”  Leah asked softly.</p><p>“No sir, we don’t mind.” Caw assured her. </p><p>She smiled at her men again and led the group to the hanger doors.  They got to the bay in time to watch them open.  The fresh air and warmth of the planet rushed over her men, several of them breathing in deeply enjoying the smell of clean, non-recycled air.  The grass blew ever so slightly in the wind, and yes there was evidence of a previous year’s crop being grown in the soil, the filed clearly in it’s rest cycle.  The birds, Atlantians, came up to the ship slowly, more birds then the men could count, various colors ranging from the blue of their general to deep purples, greens, even some oranges.  They stopped at the base of the ramp and formed a group to the side to wait. </p><p>“Ready sir.” A Sargent cut in.  He stood at parade rest next to Drake.  The men where in armor only, leaving their helmets on the ship as per their general’s orders.</p><p>“Good, you’re with….” Drake paused, looking among the birds before Leah pointed out and called over someone.</p><p>“(You can take this group, correct?)” She asked of the bird in her native tone. </p><p>The bird nodded, “(Of course my lady.  If you’ll come with me..)” She didn’t wait but a second for the men and began to lead them.  After a moment the men started to follow her, glancing thrown at their general but no one spoke out loud.</p><p>“So we just cycle each group out, to a guide and when we’re done we get to go to our own dinner?”  Peg asked.</p><p>“Yeah, it’s a simple system, but the Magistrate and I thought it would work best for our first time out here.” Leah explained.</p><p>“As long as they all find their way back.” Drake added.  The men were allowed one night out, they could sleep at the feast if they wanted, then they were to come back to the ship so they could regroup and decide where to go next.</p><p>“If they get lost someone will guide them here.” Leah assured her men.  “You are the only clones on this planet now.”</p><p>“We don’t exactly look like the natives.” Raven reminded the men.</p><p>The next group came and was cycled that way out till every group of men was off the ship shave for the ones with Leah.  There were a few birds left clearly waiting on her, patiently at least.  They had spoken among one another to kill time but none looked upset about how long it had taken.</p><p>“Leah?”  A voice asked.  A beautiful bird dressed very fancy called.</p><p>“Sister.”  Leah smiled, walking quickly toward her.  Her clones followed silently in slight confusion.</p><p>“Magistrate, these are my men.” Leah explained in basic, “They’re my company, my family while we’re out there on missions.  She told her, “Boys, this is the Magistrate of this planet, she’s the ruler, and head of the Seh clan.  She’s also my cousin.”</p><p>“But you called her sister?”  Peg asked, glancing between the two.  There was a definite resemblance between them.</p><p>“Sister is an honor term we use for those close to us in our clan, just as I may now call you brothers.” The Magistrate explained, blowing slightly to them.</p><p>“Magistrate.” </p><p>The men quickly followed her lead bowing.  </p><p>“We’re honored for the title but…” Tobias glanced at his Jedi.</p><p>“No buts, we talked and decided, your my family, my brothers, and as such we plan to adopt you into our clan, if you’re willing that is.”</p><p>The men glanced at one another, startled a bit.</p><p>“We’d be honored ma’ams.”  Tobias took over, bowing slightly to the two of them.</p><p>The sounds of music and laugher were suddenly carried from one of the camps and the ladies shared a glance.  </p><p>“We should be getting to our own part.” The magistrate told them.</p><p>Glows from other parties could be seen as they started to walk, they could hear the men talking and smell the foods being cooked.  The night hadn’t really started yet, darkness wise, the twilight giving them enough light to see by to walk to the dinner without tripping.</p><p>They entered a clearing and froze.  Spread out in front of them were several tables.  Music was being played softly, and food was being cooked over an open spit.  Food was waiting for them on the table as were drinks.  The men glanced at one another before taking a step forward as a group.  Slowly they split up, settling down onto various pads that had been prepared for them.  Raven sunk down next to Tobias as he sat, looking at the foods.</p><p>“How are we going to eat food cubes again?”</p><p>“Painfully.” Tobias told him, taking a pastry as it was offered to him.  “And with much regret.” He added after taking a bite into the fruit filled baked good.  He’d never had anything like that and knew from the expression on his brother’s face Raven was having the same reaction.  The food was good, very good, that first bite almost did him in.  </p><p>Then they noticed various other foods being given out, a sampling of what the planet had to offer being deposited on their plates. </p><p>Tobias took his first sip of his drink and paused, glancing toward Raven, “It’s wine so don’t drink too much at once.” He cautioned.</p><p>Raven nodded, taking a taste of his own cup.  “Slow and while eating.  I may have never been at a bar but I’ve seen halo vids.” A glance thrown toward Peg and Caw, “Should we warn them.”</p><p>Tobias glanced, chewing slowly on another banked good, “They like discovery, let them find out on their own.”</p><p>Raven laughed a bit, shaking his head at his brother being evil for once but didn’t say anything else, too busy eating and drinking to worry about the others.</p><p>Around them the night came to life.  Flowers and plants began to open, and as they did they began to shine like the stars.  The sky it’s self while black, shined with stars, and was accented by two moons that were visible.</p><p>Tobias took in all of the beauty, attempting to commit it to memory as he did.  He didn’t know when he’d be back here again so he simply relaxed, enjoying the beauty that was all around him, and the food he was slowly eating.</p><p>Raven had began to not follow his advice he noticed and had drunk more then intended, he was now drinking a juice to try and stop the world from spinning around him.</p><p>“(Excuse us?)” Two females suddenly broke in speaking softly, “(Would you two like to dance?)” They asked shily.</p><p>Tobias glanced toward Raven before looking back at them.  “(I’m afraid we don’t know how.)” He answered slowly, making sure his accent and word choice was proper.</p><p>“(We can teach you.)” One of the girls offered.  The other one nodded in agreement.</p><p>“Well, feel up to dancing with two pretty girls?” Tobias asked his brother.</p><p>Raven glanced at the girls for a moment in thought, “Only if they lead.” He answered.</p><p>“(That’s a yes.. as long as you teach us.)” Tobias answered for his brother. </p><p>The girls nodded to him again and one held out her hand.  He took it, making sure to keep his balance as he stood.  He may not have had as much wine as his brother but for him it was enough.  The girl kept her grip on him and lead him to the dance floor.  Pulling her against him she guided him to where to put his hands and wrapped her own around him.  Slowly moving to the music she began to guide him across the dance floor.  He caught random glances of his brothers on the dance floor as they moved around, some dancing with birds, some simply watching from the sidelines, and a few still eating.</p><p>They danced a few songs before he thanked her and moved to sit back down.  She followed him, settling on the pad next to him.  A glance was given toward her and she smiled at him for a moment.</p><p>“(It’s nothing.  Just wanted to eat a bit if that’s okay.)” She explained, reaching for a pastry.</p><p>“(That’s fine.  I just thought…)” He cut himself off.</p><p>“(Yes?)” </p><p>He shook his head, “(No it’s nothing… )” He checked back briefly at the dancers, looking for his brother.  Raven was still slow dancing with the bird.  He looked a bit better then when he’d first stood up, more relaxed with her, and more sober at least.</p><p>His own bird gave him a sideways glance before she started to ask him about himself, then tell him about herself.</p><p>The night passed with more eating, and drinking.  Tobias and Raven decided amongst themselves to bunker down at the feast site and sleep under the stars.  The rest of the batch joined them so as soon as the feast was over they settled down in the grass, using the pads they’d sat on for pillows.</p><p>“It’s nice here.”  Someone sleepily commented.</p><p>A murmur was heard in agreement before the men slowly drifted off to sleep.</p><p>The morning broke and they woke up the smell of breakfast being cooked.  A few birds from the previous night were tending to fires cooking various local breakfast foods, along with several pitchers of coffees and teas that were being brewed.  </p><p>“What’s a hangover feel like?”  Peg groaned out.</p><p>Tobias shifted to a sitting position looking at his brother, “You…. I think it’s what you feel and look like.”  He shook his head, thanking the bird who passed him a cup of caff.</p><p>“If it’s Peg, then I think I got one too.” Caw moaned from his position still laying on the ground.</p><p>“You all drank too much didn’t you….” Drake shook his head, sipping the warm drink that had been passed to him.  He looked over the men for a few minutes to meet the eyes of his Jedi who looked as amused as he felt.  “Well maybe next time you won’t make that mistake again.”</p><p>His two younger brothers and a few of the other men groaned but made no other comment.</p><p>A female bird, teal in color picked her way through the sleeping clones, a cup in each of her hands.  She handed it off to Peg and Caw as she passed them, “(Drink, its good for hangovers.)”  she assured them as she passed.</p><p>“She said drink it.” Tobias offered, looking at his brothers.</p><p>“We got that, thanks Toby.” Peg told him, rolling his eyes.  He took a sip anyway, “Hey this is actually kinda good what is?”</p><p>Leah laughed, she was sipping a tea while sitting on a log nearby, a dish of breakfast in her lap.  “It’s an herbal hangover cure.  The apothecaries always make sure to bring them to these parties in case anyone passes out and needs them the next day.  They kind of expect it.”</p><p>Raven nibbled on some of his breakfast slowly.  He had a headache but nowhere as near as bad as his brother.</p><p>“(Would we be able to get a cup of that for him?)” Tobias asked as a bird passed by.  She smiled at him and he realized it was the one he danced with the previous night, “(It’s for him.)” He pointed at Raven, who half glared at him.</p><p>“(Of course.)” She gave the two a smile and vanished to get the drink.</p><p>“Thanks Toby.”</p><p>Tobias waved but didn’t respond, instead he started to eat some of his own food.</p><p>A moment later the bird Raven had danced with brought him the cup and paused sitting next to him, “(Do you need anything else?)” she asked.</p><p>Tobias gave his brother a look based upon the tone of her voice and her actions, she was one of the only few to sit down like that, and turned his head away so he could focus on his food instead and give his brother some privacy.</p><p>*</p><p>The men of Broken wing walked along silently.  They came over a crest and almost froze, the trees surrounding them gave way to a field.  In the middle of the filed sat a mansion, complete with attached green house.  It had at least four stories, multiple rooms.</p><p>“That’s my parent’s house.” Leah explained.</p><p>“Your parents sir…”  Peg stared almost dumbstruck.</p><p>“She is a noble Peg.” Tobias reminded as he walked past his brother to look at the house.  Beside it ran a stream, several boats were docked, waiting to take whoever wherever they wanted.  Boat transport was the primary transport on the planet due to all of the interconnecting streams.  As such each house had a dock, and usually several boats tied to it.</p><p>“I keep forgetting…” Peg trailed off, still looking at the house as they walked</p><p>The rest of the clones were silent, busy staring at the mansion they were coming up to.</p><p>“Do we just go in or knock or wait outside?”  Caw asked softly.</p><p>“I open the door and you walk in behind me.”  Leah answered him.</p><p>They slowly made their way down the path, next to the river toward the house.  Tobias watched the water for a bit while walking, again taking it all in just in case.</p><p>“It’s pretty.” Raven told him softly.</p><p>“The whole place is pretty.”  Tobias looked toward their general again as she led them.  Watching her move and her coloration it was obvious she was made for the planet and he felt a stab of sadness that the war and the Jedi had taken her away from such a world.</p><p>They reached the building after walking down a stone path and stopped for as long as it took her to knock on the door.</p><p>“(Mom?  Dad?)” She called entering the house, her men behind her following slowly.</p><p>Two birds came out to meet her, older in age by a bit.  They greeted her and hugged her before looking at the men.</p><p>“These must be them?” Her father started speaking in very heavily accented basic, “The men you work with?”</p><p>She nodded, “Yeah papa, they’re the ones I told you about.  Some of them at least.  The rest of them are sleeping off hangovers.”</p><p>Her parents laughed before her father looked to her men, “You keep her safe, and she’ll keep you safe.  She’s a good little fighter (my daughter).”</p><p>Leah blushed slightly at the compliment, her feathers poofing a bit in a response her men knew was embarrassment.  She lightly brushed them down before looking back to her men.  “My men are good fighters too papa.”</p><p>He nodded pride clear in his eyes as he looked at her, “And they have one of the best Jedi to lead them.”</p><p>Her mother came forward, glairing lightly at her husband, “Where are your manners?  I’m sorry for being rude.  Come in please.  Do you want anything, I know you just had breakfast?”  Her basic was heavily accented as well. </p><p>“Showers maybe Mama?  And clean clothing?  I had some that would fit them that was supposed to be delivered her?”  Leah asked.</p><p>“It was, I’ll show you where it is.”  Her mother told them, smiling lightly at the men, “Come along, see what you want to wear then take your showers.”</p><p>Leah motioned for them to follow and soon enough the men were waking down wooden sided hallways, light color wood to compliment the darker colored one on the floor following their General’s mother.  She lead them into a large room with several boxes in the center.  “These are what Leah had sent for you.  Pick out what you want and I’ll show you to your rooms so you can shower and get refreshed.”  The boxes were long enough to contain enough clothing for the battalion, and spread out so they could sort them.  The rest of the furniture in the room had been pushed to the side to let them sort it out as they wanted, the few chairs simply moved.</p><p>For a moment Tobias stopped, touched that someone he didn’t know would do so much for himself and his brothers, and he saw the emotion echoed in a few of his vod’s eyes.  Then they slowly moved to the chests to open them.</p><p>Regular, non-regulation clothing was inside, shirts, pants, everything even shoes, sleep wear and bathing suits.</p><p>“Anyone ever wear anything not GAR before?”  One of the men whispered.</p><p>“First time for everything, and personally this looks a lot more comfortable.”  Someone else responded.</p><p>Tobias and Raven worked slowly with one box, rejecting various tops till they each found one they liked, a dark green for Tobias, and a deep royal purple that Raven grabbed up.  It could almost be mistaken for black in the right light.  They settled for generic shoes and pants, not putting too much thought into it.</p><p>“Leah says grab out swim trunks as well, she’s taking us to the beach while we’re here.”  Drake shouted to be heard over the men talked.</p><p>A shout was given and the men started to dig anew for items. </p><p>*</p><p>Once clothing was gathered the men followed Leah’s mother to the bedroom section of the mansion.  </p><p>“Pick a room.” She told them with a smile.</p><p>“Like a bedroom.”  Caw asked, his eyes going down the hallway to the open doors.</p><p>She nodded, “Yes, a bedroom, for you to keep your belongs in while you’re here, and any time you come to visit.”</p><p>The clones looked at one another a bit before they slowly started walking down the hallways looking into various rooms.</p><p>“Don’t be shy, pick one you like the looks of or the view of.” Leah’s voice called down the hall.  She’d apparently rejoined them at some point without them noticing. </p><p>The men glanced back at her before slowly peaking into rooms again.</p><p>“You each get your own room, but if you’d like we can move a bed or two into rooms so you’re not sleeping alone.”  The jedi gave them a knowing look, most of the clones had never slept in a room by themselves, with the exception of the tube beds on Kamino, but even then they were surrounded by their brothers in other tubes.</p><p>“I think we’d like that sir… at least for the first time were here.” One of her men said softly.  A few of them agreed with the one that spoke.</p><p>“Then pick out your rooms and who you want to sleep in there with you and we’ll get the beds settled.” She told them, walking among her men.</p><p>“We will, thank you sir.” A trooper told her as he passed.</p><p>Caw and Peg glanced at one another before working together to find a room they would share.  Tobias wasn’t surprised to see the two pick out a room, and went past them, finding one with a large window, decent sized fresher, and a rather large bed.  He walked around the room for a moment before deciding he wanted it and steaked his claim so to say.</p><p>Raven stuck his head in the doorway in time to see him stretch out on the bed.  “Mind if I grab the one next door?”  He asked</p><p>“Go ahead, if no one else got it.”</p><p>“Nope, but I figured I’d ask since you wanted a bit of privacy.”  Raven vanished into his own rather large room before Tobias could comment on it farther.</p><p>Shaking his head Tobias pulled himself from his bed, walked to his door and meant his general at it.</p><p>“This one Tobias?”  She asked.</p><p>He nodded.</p><p>“Then you’re welcome to it.  Why don’t you shower, get changed and rest a bit.  We’ll be here for a few hours before the rest of the men get their clothing picked out for the week.”</p><p>“I will, thank you ma’am.” He told her stepping back a bit.  Another nod was given to her before he stepped back closing the door.  His eyes went over the room, his room, one more final time before he grabbed his change of clothing from his bed and went to test out his new, rather large shower.</p><p>*</p><p>“Tobias?”  Raven’s voice came to him.  “Hey Toby?”  He slowly woke up a bit disorientated.  </p><p>Tobias shifted, started to feel the sheet move oddly then realized it wasn’t standard issue GAR fabric, and he wasn’t on his bunk on the ship.  Turning over he came face to face with Raven standing in the doorway to his room.</p><p>“Come on Toby, time to get up.  We got a city to go to.” Raven told him softly.  He made sure his brother was awake before leaving the room.</p><p>Tobias stretched, working the kinks out of his shoulders before he pulled himself out of the too comfy bed and stood.  A gaze was given to the still warm spot in the bed before he left it.  Shivering slightly he pulled a second shirt on over his t-shirt and grabbed his bag of stuff.  He paused looking at his armor before walking into the hallway.</p><p>“Do we need our armor?”  He asked his nearest brother.</p><p>“Nope, the General just said to bring your civvies, no armor.  We’ll be back to pick it up in a week or so.” The other trooper told him, walking quickly down the hall with his own bag over his solder.</p><p>A gaze was given once more to his own armor before Tobias closed his bedroom door, leaving everything GAR related in that room to wait for him.</p><p>He pushed more time looking at the door, before Raven came by, dropped an arm over his shoulder and dragged him down the hall to the outside.  </p><p>Blinking he stepped into the light and stopped again.</p><p>Boats, a massive amount of boats were waiting at the docks.  Groups of clones were lining up to bord them, some could be seen already loaded and heading down the stream.  </p><p>“Our ride to the city.” Raven explained.  “While you took a nap, we had boats arrive, and the rest of our battalion.  Men have been getting new clothing and heading to the city we’ll be staying in for a while.”</p><p>Tobias watched the trail of men for a moment before looking at Raven, “Wait, the city?”  He swore his brain was moving slow, but he didn’t remember anything about a city.</p><p>You slept through that one too Toby.  The city, we’re going to an abandoned city to stay for a few days.  Some of the Atlanteans will be staying in it with us to run a few shops, and the bars, but it will basically be ours till we leave.  And it’s on the beach, which is why we have the bathing suits.” Raven told him as he walked Tobias toward the peer.  “Just think, a few days, us, and a city to ourselves.”</p><p>Tobias shook his head, “’I’m more worried about Peg, Caw and a bar.” </p><p>“Yeah, I thought of that too.”  Raven told him.  “After last night though, and this morning, I think they will know better.. maybe… hopefully at least.”</p><p>They waited in silence, watching the men load up till it was their turn to get on a slightly smaller ship.  They were able to get an edge seat, something one of the men had said about them being Sergeants, and settled down next to the water to watch it as the boat slowly drifted down the stream.  </p><p>The river was clear, clear enough to see the bottom, and see the fish and that swam in it.  The boat slowly passed fields and entered an area where the trees overhung the water, almost touching, shading the stream.  </p><p>“It’s pretty.” Raven spoke softly.  Several voices agreed.  </p><p>Tobias hesitated for a moment then reached over the side of the boat to touch the water.  The coolness ran between his fingers and he smiled watching it, playing with the water before he sat back up.</p><p>“We should see if we can swim in the river at some time.” Raven told him.  “It looks cool.” Tobias nodded, “And I bet it would be refreshing.”</p><p>“This whole planet is refreshing.” Tobias told him softly.</p><p>He closed his eyes and simply listened to the sound of nature for a while as the boat drifted to the city.</p><p>*</p><p>The city shone, sparling in the light of the afternoon sun.</p><p>The men got off the ship slowly, walking from the dock down a road. </p><p>“Oh Tobias good.” Drake called him and Raven over.  “You’re going to be in the hotel to the left.”  Drake pointed at a rather large hotel facing the beach.  “We’re trying to fit everyone into that or one of the building’s next to it.  Go ahead, find a room and get settled in.  The restaurants, bars, and other shops will be open soon if you want to visit them.”</p><p>“Sir, one small question…” Raven suddenly asked.</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“How are we paying for all of this?”</p><p>Drake gave him a look that while not a stupid question, he’d clearly been asked it multiple times that day.</p><p>“I mean, we don’t have an income…” Raven trailed off looking to Tobias for help.</p><p>“No, you’re fine Raven.  I should have sent an announcement out to everyone.  Their letting us have whatever we want in this city for free.  They know we don’t get paid, that we’re property, so their allowing us a chance at what civilians get for free.”</p><p>“But sir…”</p><p>“It’s a gift, from this planet to us.  You know how they feel about the war?”  They needed, “They want to give us something, something to make this war not so horrible, to remind us that once in a while good things will happen in our lives.”</p><p>Raven exchanged a glance with Tobias.</p><p>“Look, everything we have is supplied to us, our food, our clothing.  It’s almost the same as here, but these people see us for people.  They like us and want to care for us, they don’t see us as a part of a war effort, a part of property they own and just need to maintain.” Drake finally told them.  “Enjoy being on a planet that thinks of us as people, not just parts to a war machine.”</p><p>“We’ll try Drake.” Tobias told him.  “It’s just different somehow.”</p><p>“Then talk and get to know these people when you go into a store, see how they feel?”  Drake finally offered.</p><p>“You mean at least get to know them, even if we don’t buy anything.”</p><p>Drake nodded.</p><p>“We’ll try that Drake.” Tobias told him.</p><p>“Good.  I’ve got other men to have this exact conversation with now then.” Drake told them and walked away.</p><p>“Shall we?”  Tobias asked glancing toward the hotel.  </p><p>“May as well, then maybe we can sight see a bit.  Still feels weird though.”  Raven told him.</p><p>“Still feels odd not being on a ship or in armor.” Tobias shot back as they walked into the hotel to find rooms.</p><p>*</p><p>They had been visiting random stores for a bit, trying to find their way around.  Wondering into one restaurant, less packed by their brothers they finally found several empty tables.  </p><p>“Should we try here?”  Raven asked, they had decided a bit ago that lunch was in order.</p><p>“May as well.  I mean the other places are packed.” </p><p>They slowly made their way to the tables when a female voice called out.</p><p>“(Remember us?)” a female bird asked them softly, next to her stood her sister.</p><p>“(I do.)” Tobias told her.</p><p>Raven appeared to think for a moment, “(The girls from last night, the ones that danced with us?)” </p><p>They nodded, “(That’s is.  Getting lunch?)”  one of them spoke.</p><p>The clones nodded.</p><p>“(Mind if we join you then?)” The one who’d danced with Tobias asked after glancing at her sister.</p><p>“(If you two want.. I mean there are other guys…)” Tobias trailed off as she took his hand and lead the group to an open table by the window.</p><p>Tobias looked to his brother once who shrugged.</p><p>Before they could ask questions a menu was placed in front of each of them.  Atlantean on the front, basic printed on the back.</p><p>The girls only glanced at it for a moment while both clones read it over a few times.</p><p>“(I have no idea what any of this is…)” Raven finally spoke, glancing at his brother then the girls.</p><p>“(Neither do I.)”  Tobias glanced at the girls, “(Can you order for us?   We haven’t exactly seen other food outside of what the GAR proves us with so we don’t know what any of this is.)”  </p><p>The girls glanced at each other for a moment then nodded.  Calling someone over they placed their order, a house simple if Toby understood them correctly, and a pitcher of something to drink with four glasses.</p><p>“(Sample platter?)” Tobias asked, making sure he understood.</p><p>“(Yeah, well we figured since you hadn’t tried new foods before a sample would be good.)” The one told him.</p><p>“(All of the restaurants around here do sample platters so you can try their foods.  It’s something that’s done world wide, and the menu of what’s on it changes depending upon the time of day.)”</p><p>“(Makes sense…)” Raven glanced at his brother as the pitcher of red drink was set on the table followed by four full glasses of the same drink.  “(And this is?)” He asked, glancing at the girls.</p><p>“(A light tea drink.  We figured after last night you wouldn’t want one of the house wines.)” The girl who danced with him told him with a light laugh.</p><p>Raven blushed slightly, causing more soft laughs from the girls, “(Probably a good idea.)”</p><p>Tobias covered his own snicker by taking a sip of his drink.  “(So what are your names?”) He asked, ignoring the glare from his brother “(I’m afraid we never got them and if we did I’m sorry but we don’t remember them.)”</p><p>“(Nar-Nehma,)” the girl who danced with him introduced herself, “(And this is my sister, Nar-Serpan.)”</p><p>“(Not Seh?)” Raven asked just as small plated of foods were placed in front of each of them.</p><p>The girls shook their heads.</p><p>“(I didn’t mean to offend-)” Raven started.</p><p>“(None was taken, it is a legitimate question.  Our family is an off shoot with the Seh, our father, a few of his brothers and sisters split to form their own clan.  The Seh clan was starting to get too large of for our customs so we formed our own separate clan.  We’re a sister clan and can rejoin the Seh if we wish.)” Nehma told him.</p><p>“(This is an appetizer sample, )” Serpan told them, taking over and slightly changing the subject before their food could get cold.  “(It’s taste of some of the apps the restaurant has, the main dish will be out in a few plates as a time once we finish the dishes in front of us.)” She explained.</p><p>The brothers glanced at one another for a moment before Tobias cautiously touched a fork, and glanced at the girls, “(Is it finger food or do we use a fork?)” He was unsure of the customs of eating the foods in front of them.</p><p>“(Finger food.)”’ Serpan told him, picking up a roll off her plate before popping the entire thing into her amount, “(The next dish will need the fork.)” She told him after swallowing.</p><p>Raven glanced once at Tobias before picking up his own roll and bit into it.</p><p>“(Plop the whole thing into your mouth so the filling doesn’t come out.)” Serpan told him quickly.</p><p>He nodded, shoving the rest in before any of the filling could escape.</p><p>“(For these dishes if you can, eat the whole thing at once, that way nothing spills.)” Nehma told them, grabbing a different thing, a small stuffed shell thing that she popped into her mouth in one shot. </p><p>The brothers exchanged another look before trying each of the things on their plates.</p><p>The rest of lunch went the same way, the girls showing them how to eat various dishes while they slowly followed their leads.</p><p>After a rather long lunch, Tobias estimated at 2 hours, which he was starting to think was the normal for most meals on the planet the girls lead them from the restaurant.</p><p>“(Any other plans today?)” Serpan asked them, glancing directly at Raven.</p><p>He shrugged, then looked to Tobias who shook his head to answer the unspoken question, “(We don’t have any.  We were just going to look around the city and see what shops and things were around.)”</p><p>“(Oh good, then we can show you around.)” Serpan took Raven’s hand and began to lead the clone down the street.</p><p>Nehma shrugged looking to Tobias, “(You’ll need to excuse my sister, she sometimes forgets herself when she gets excited.)”</p><p>Tobias laughed softly, watching his brother being dragged, “(I don’t think he minds too much.)”  Raven didn’t look distressed at all, and rather looked like he was having fun being lead around, between pauses to look in store windows.</p><p>They finally caught up at the two outside of a small shop.</p><p>“Hey Toby.” Raven called, “(Bet you want to go into this one.)”</p><p>“(What is it?)” Tobias peaked into the glass trying to figure out what the shop was.</p><p>“(It’s a bookstore.)” Nehma told him, “(It’s open if you want to go in.)”</p><p>Tobias glanced toward his brother who nodded and quickly went into the building.  </p><p>“(Tobias loves books, and loves to read.)” Raven explained as he entered the building, “(He’s never been inside a real bookstore before though so we may lose him for hours.)”</p><p>The girls laughed as they followed Tobias inside, Nehma looking to Raven as they did, “(I guess we shouldn’t take him to the library then?)”</p><p>“(Oh no, not a good idea.  We’d never see him again if we did that.)”</p><p>Tobias overheard them but choose to ignore them for a moment.  He was too busy browsing dusty shelves lined with real printed books, on real paper, bound in either hard cardboard or fabric backed.  For him this was like a dream come true, something he’d never thought he’d see his entire life.  Taking a moment he stopped, reached one hand up and gently touched a book before pulling it off of the shelf.  He simply held it for a moment before dusting it off carefully and opening it.  He knew he was treating it like the most precious object in the universe but he didn’t care, for the moment, to him it was that.  He looked through the book carefully for a moment before re-shelving it and slowly moving to another shelf, lightly running his hands over the books there for a moment.</p><p>“(We may never leave here you know.)” Raven told the girls watching his brother.</p><p>“(There is no shop keeper here right now.  The building was just opened in case anyone wanted to come in.  He is welcome to take anything he wants.)” Serpan told him, she’d retaken his hand and was holding it lightly as the two browsed the store shelves.</p><p>“Hear that Toby, you can grab a few books and we can head out whenever you’re ready.” Raven called to him.</p><p>A laugh was heard from the back of the store, “(I may never be ready… but I’ll take a few books.  We can always come back later.)” It was a half question and a statement rolled into one.</p><p>“(Yep, we have all shore leave.)” Raven reassured him, “And you need to carry anything you get around with you for the rest of the day anyways.”)</p><p>Tobias nodded, walking back to the circle, two books in his arms, “(I was just planning on taking these two for now.)”</p><p>“(They’ll last you the night at least I suppose.)” Raven told him laughing,  “(Ready to go then Toby?)”</p><p>His brother nodded to him again, clutching the books to his chest.</p><p>“(Wait a minute.)” Nehma told them, quickly walking to a shelf.  She pulled out a bag and handed it to him, “(So they’ll be easier to carry.)” She explained putting the books inside before handing it back to him.  </p><p>“(Ready now?)” Raven asked with a smile to his brother.</p><p>The group nodded and heading out for the next store.</p><p>Occasionally they would pass vod randomly shopping themselves, sometimes with bird guides, sometimes with just other brothers, and sometimes alone.  Greetings were called out when they meant the men, some giving the brothers sideways glanced and knowing looks when they saw the girls with the two, especially when it was clear Raven was still holding hands with one.</p><p>No one commented on it though, granted they didn’t come across Peg and Caw which probably helped.  Knowing those two Tobias figured they’d never hear the end of it.</p><p>They slowly made their way to the beach Tobias realized when he could hear the sound of the waves louder.</p><p>“(Is this okay?)” One of the girls asked.</p><p>The day was late and the sun was beginning to set a bit.</p><p>“(It is…)” Raven trailed off.  “(When would you two want to get dinner, unless you’re tired of showing us around?)”</p><p>“(We’re walking to it now.)” Nehma assured him, their path was taking them slowly by the water’s path, though it was with a purpose from what Tobias could tell.</p><p>Serpan didn’t answer, though she lightly laughed, her hand still tightly wrapped in Raven’s.  Tobias had noticed once or twice she’d stepped closer to his brother then normal, but over all she’d kept her distance.  Raven, he wasn’t sure had even noticed how the girl was acting toward him, and after a debate with himself Tobias decided not to mention it to him.  Raven looked happy and he didn’t want to interrupt that.</p><p>“(We’re here.)” Nehma told him, touching his arm to get his attention.  In front of them was a small building, with a wraparound deck that extended over the sea.  Tables were set out for diners to eat and watch the water.  The girls lead them up stars and after a quick comment to a waitress they were settled at one of the back tables.  A few others where occupied, some with birds, some with clones, some with mixed company like their own, but it was less crowded then expected.  Tobias knew that would change by the next day when word of the place got out.  For the moment, most of the clones were simply sticking to more centralized restaurants till they knew the place better. </p><p>Again they let the girls order for them, content with the choices they made the last time.  Almost immediately drinks, four tall dark drinks and appetizers, small breads with a dip were brought out and set at the table for them.  The clones waited, watching the girls again so they would know how to eat the food.</p><p>“(Take the spread, and put one on a piece of bread.)” Nehma told them showing them how to work the meal, “(The drink is slightly alcoholic so don’t drink it too fast.)” She cautioned, eyes on Raven as she did so.</p><p>Raven blushed faintly but no other comments were made about the previous night.</p><p>They munched on the apps for a while, while watching the gently movement of the waves of the ocean.  A few other tables came in, one of which had Drake and Leah in them.  Their general and commander gave them each a smile before going off to find their own table out of the way.</p><p>As the sun lowered the lights of the restaurant came on, and a few well-placed torches were lit along the rails, causing the light to reflect from the surf.  Tobias found himself lost in an almost trance again, watching how calming the water was as opposed to that on Kamino.  Kamino had always given him a sense of dread when he stared at the water.  Here thought the water was calming, peaceful and left him at ease.</p><p>“Toby?”  Raven suddenly called.</p><p>He shook himself, brining himself back to there here and now and turned back to the table to find it now covered with food.  An empty plate sat in front of him, along with a few other dishes.  The food was set in the center of the table.  A hard shelled sea creature cooked and cut so they could take pieces of it, grilled from the looks of it, with several sauces that could be poured over it was on part of the table.  The other part contained red meat, grilled as well, with it’s own set of sauces and cut into easy pieces they could self-serve themselves with.  A few smaller dishes had what appeared to be grilled vegetables, already pre seasoned with differences sauces as well.</p><p>“(So we just grab?)” Raven asked, looking at the dishes in front of him before glancing at the girls who confirmed.</p><p>“(Just grab what you’d like with the serving forks, pour some of the sauces into the cups you have, and you can dip the meats into them as you eat them to figure out which ones you like better.)” Nehma told them, reaching for her own serving of seafood.</p><p>The brothers slowly followed her advice, trying a taste of each thing before deciding which they liked best.  An hour later, when they were too stuff to even think about anything else the girls smiled to them, almost laughing.</p><p>“(No desert right?)” Serpan asked, laughing still.</p><p>“(No… defiantly no.)” Raven told her shaking his head.</p><p>“(Shame, this place has really good deserts.)” They looked at her as if she was crazy, “(Maybe next time?)”</p><p>“(Next time.)” Raven confirmed. </p><p>Tobias glanced at his brother at the next time comment before shaking his head as they stood.  Raven gave him a confused look but he didn’t bother elaborating, not sure he was even right.  Their General wished them a good night as they were leaving and the look Drake shot them was clear, Drake was having the same thought he had started to have.</p><p>They followed the girls slowly along the beach, the water the only thing making the noise as they walked for a few moments.</p><p>“(So, where to now?)” Raven asked the girls.</p><p>“(How about a walk along the beach, we can show you the cove if you want.)” Serpan offered.  Her hand had found Raven’s again as they walked, and Tobias noted his brother wasn’t complaining.</p><p>He glanced once to the bird at his own side as they walked.  She seemed happy enough simply walking, not holding hands, just taking part in small talk for the moment.</p><p>“(I thought this city was abandoned?)” Tobias finally asked as they were crossing under another very well kept pier, this one like the other had a small restaurant on it.  From the smells and the sounds he assumed it was more of a bar, then a grill though.  He could hear a few of his brothers talking, and he swore he heard a slightly drunk Peg talking to a very drunk Caw at one point.</p><p>“(It is, but we take care of it.)” Nehma explained, “(Once every few months we come into the city and clean, and in the case of the restaurants grills are turned on, and fired up to feed those in the city that are cleaning.  We stay here for about a week to make sure everything is repaired then go back to our homes.  Our families, grandparents, great grandparents, their parents built these cities, it would dishonor their memories if we just let them fall apart.  Every non lived in city gets this treatment, different families take care of different cities.  In this case though, since we knew you were coming we stocked up everything so you and Lady Leah would have everything you needed for your stay.)”</p><p>Tobias nodded, slowly, his eyes looking back over the city in all its glory at night from where they stood. Most of it was light up, the parts the clones where using or had wandered into.  Some was still dark, unused, untouched, those parts reminded him of what he’d read, what had happened to the planet, and for a moment he felt sad that such a nice, caring people could have something like that happen to them.</p><p>“(I am surprised about one thing.)” Tobias started, Nehma coked her head to the side and motioned for him to continue, “(You know we can’t afford to pay for any of this and yet your people are offering all of this to us for free.  It can’t be cheap.)”</p><p>She laughed a bit, and then did move to take his hand.  “(The cost doesn’t matter to us.  You’re bringing life back to one of our cities, using it, making it live, even for a short time.  There are people here, it’s not just sitting lost, forgotten about.  If we need to pay for everything for you it’s worth it for our ancestors to not be forgotten.)”  </p><p>“(We’re here.)” Serpan cut into their conversation.  She had stopped Raven and was looking back to the other two.</p><p>They’d managed to walk to a part of the island lit only by the moons light.  The water reflecting the light from the moons, while being lit underwater from various plants.  It was a cove, shielded from the waves somewhat, with a rock cropping in the center.  They could either walk around on the rocks to get to the mouth, a rather small one that let in fresh water constantly, while keeping the water temperature even, or they could jump into it and swim.</p><p>“(Sooo…)” Raven trailed off looking at the girls.</p><p>“(We can sit on the edge and talk, head back to the city, or go for a swim if you want.)” Nehma offered.</p><p>Serpan clearly wanted to swim but was waiting on what her guests decided.</p><p>“(What do you think Toby?)” Raven glanced to the water before looking at his brother.</p><p>“(We know how to swim, it’s just we haven’t in a while.  Plus we don’t exactly have swim appropriate garments on.)” Tobias glanced at the water while talking.</p><p>The girls glanced toward the water for a moment before Serpan took off a shoe and dipped her foot in.  “(It’s nice and warm.)”</p><p>The boys exchanged glanced again for a moment before looking at the girls then the water.</p><p>“This is going where I think it is, isn’t it?” Raven asked in basic.</p><p>“Yeah, it is.  Do we go with it or head back to the city?”</p><p>Raven looked at the girls again for a moment, “Just for a swim maybe, I mean it is a nice cove and we are on leave.”</p><p>Tobias nodded, glancing back at the water, “(Well if you two are okay with us not having trunks..)” He trailed off.</p><p>The girls nodded, giggling for a moment, before they began to strip next to the water.  “(It’s okay we didn’t bring suits either.)” One of them called back.</p><p>Tobias gave his brother a look of ‘what did we just get into’ before they followed the girls lead, slowly removing their own clothing.</p><p>A splash sounded from the cove a second later and Tobias turned to find one of girls already in the water.  The second one was glancing at them, waiting to see if they would follow.  Tobias kept his eyes glued to her face even if he was aware that her eyes were elsewhere for a moment.  A sideways glance at Raven told him his brother was checking out the female.  With a shake of his head he made his own way into the water, to be joined a second later by Raven and Nehma.</p><p>He did have to admit the water was warm, and swimming like that felt good on his muscles.  He made his way to the rock gathering in the center of the water and leaned on it, watching as the girls and Raven splashed one another for several minutes.  Before he stretched out half in and half out of the water.</p><p>“(You doing okay?)” Nehma was suddenly next to him.  </p><p>He started awake almost bonking her in the head and quickly made sure his eyes were not at her chest area where they had been when he woke up.</p><p>“(Yeah I musta drifted off…)” He trailed off blushing.</p><p>“(I guessed that.  You’re blushing?)”</p><p>“(Sorry I didn’t mean…)” He trialed off lost for a minute.</p><p>She interrupted his rambling by moving in and kissing him.  He froze for a second unsure of what to do before he kissed her back.  </p><p>“(We’re heading back.)” She told him, looking amused a bit at his still confusion.  </p><p>He glanced toward his brother and saw his arm lightly around a still nude Serpan’s waist as they waited on the edge of the water.</p><p>“(Oh… okay….)” He brain was moving slowly as he followed her back into the water and to the beach.</p><p>Once on land they all dressed quickly and walked slowly back toward where everyone else was.  As the light from the city slowly surrounded them Nehma gave him a worried look.</p><p>“(Everything okay?)”</p><p>He paused mid step before nodding, “(Yeah I mean… it is…)” He felt confused but didn’t bother voicing that confusion.</p><p>“(Bar? Want a drink?)” She offered.</p><p>He nodded and the four of them slowly went up the stairs, leaving the beach behind to grab a drink from a very crowded bar.</p><p>*</p><p>“Well?”  Raven took off his shirt and got comfortable on his bed.  They had opted to share a joined hotel room, two beds, joined by a door they could close, with a centralized living room area that over looked the city.</p><p>“The girls?” Tobias guessed.  He was gathering his things for a shower to get the salt water off.</p><p>“Yeah.  I mean…” Raven trailed off looking lost.</p><p>Tobias shrugged, “I dunno.  I mean their girls, and I guess their cute but…. I just don’t know.” He couldn’t put into words what he was feeling.</p><p>“Caw and Peg would be laughing their asses off if they knew we were having this conversation.”</p><p>Tobias nodded, before heading into his shower, “So we don’t tell them.” He called.  Any response Raven had was lost in the rush of the water.</p><p>*</p><p>The next afternoon after wandering around with their brothers for a bit the girls found them again.</p><p>“(We weren’t sure after last night…)” Nehma trailed off, looking between the two.</p><p>Raven glanced at Tobias, then to the girls and shrugged, “(We… actually don’t have any experience with girls, at all aside from our commanders.)” He admitted.  “(We’re not exactly sure how to act around you or how to feel….)” He trailed off feeling suddenly stupid.</p><p>The girls were quiet for a moment before Serpan spoke, “(Do you still want to hang out then?  We can just do fun things, see where it leads?)” She offered.</p><p>A look was given to Tobias before Raven agreed.</p><p>They spend the next several days simply sightseeing, finding various shops, and for Tobias getting a few more books before one night they simply ordered in and watched a movie at their hotel.</p><p>Serpan and Raven had been exchanging kisses randomly, nothing to heavy, more clearly experimenting.  On the other couch, Tobias sat with Nehma curled up against him under a blanket while they watched the movie.  Glasses of wine that they occasionally refilled in their hands with half finished meals in front of them.  Randomly Tobias would pass her a bite of something but other than that they were content to simply watch the move.  </p><p>When it ended they simply let it play into the next one, though Tobias noticed at some point Raven had turned off the lights.  The light from the halo screen and the city the only things illumining the room.  A half glance given to Raven told him that his brother was very busy kissing his date for the night.</p><p>Date, they had decided to use that word just to see how it felt.  The guys still unsure and the girls willing to go back to friends if the date didn’t turn out the way they wanted, if it turned out no one felt the way the other hoped they did.</p><p>Raven looked to be enjoying his date at least.</p><p>Tobias went back to his movie, and poured his own date another half glass of wine, getting one for himself as they sat, still slightly watching the movie.  It was a commercial break when he turned and noticed her looking at him, almost studying him.</p><p>“(What?)” He spoke softly.</p><p>She shook her head and moved into to kiss him.</p><p>Again he hesitated before kissing her, tasting the wine they had just finished in the kiss.  He moved to hug her to him as he’d seen in the halo movies simply letting the kiss go on as he held her.  Something, he still wasn’t sure if he felt lost or what was wrong, but he ignored the feeling for a moment, letting her lead as she shifted turning a bit more toward him while kissing him, letting the kiss last for a while before she pulled away laughing softly.</p><p>“(What?)” He wasn’t sure if he should be as relieved as he felt. </p><p>“(Nothing.  Your just not into it.  It wouldn’t be right for me to continue if you’re not sure.)” Nehma settled back down next to him to watch the movie.  “(Still friends like we said?)”</p><p>He nodded not sure how to respond and stayed quiet throughout the movie.</p><p>*</p><p>“Well?” Raven asked a few hours after the girls left.</p><p>Tobias shook his head not sure how to answer.  They were slowly picking up the hotel room, moving trash around and generally cleaning up.</p><p>“Yeah, I know what you mean.  Every time I kissed her it felt wrong, I mean it was nice but.” Raven paused, laughing sadly, “I felt like when I looked at her I was kissing the General, and as weird as this is that’s not something I wanna think about you know, kissing our Jedi.”</p><p>Tobias nodded, “That and Drake would kill you.”</p><p>“Aside from Drake killing me, I think I’d do it myself.  I mean she’s our Jedi, I don’t wanna think about her that way.”</p><p>“Imagine waking up at night on leave thinking you have the general in your bed.” Tobias offered, both brothers looked at one another and shivered.  </p><p>“Yeah, no, not something I’m interested in.  I think it’s best we just stay friends with them.”  Raven glanced at his brother, “Unless you’re interested in her?”</p><p>“No.  Something felt wrong when I kissed her.  The entire thing was awkward and I don’t mean like kissing the General awkward it just felt wrong.” Tobias sighed, looking directly at his brother after he finished dropping the bottles in the trash, “Don’t think I’m crazy Raven but I felt nothing, no attraction to her.  And she was willing to lead so it’s not like I couldn’t figure out what to do, it was more like there was nothing, no spark at all.   I mean I’ve never felt that way to any girl though, those vids the others sometimes watch, nothing, if anything they make me sick.”  He looked at his brother lost for a minute, “Maybe something is just wrong with me.”</p><p>Raven sighed, stopping what he was doing at the sink and gently hugged his brother, “Nothing is wrong with you Toby.  I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation.”  He paused, in thought, “Did you maybe try the other types of ‘those videos’?”</p><p>Tobias looked at him in confusion.</p><p>“The types some of the guys like where its not a guy or a girl, or a girl and a girl?”</p><p>“You mean gay ones?”  Tobias asked, unsure why Raven was beating around the bush.</p><p>“Yeah.” His brother blushed slightly.</p><p>“No…. I didn’t think…” Tobias trailed off.  “I don’t think I’m ready to either.”</p><p>Raven turned off the light after he was sure the kitchen was cleaned, and Toby followed him toward their bedrooms.  “Well when you are maybe give them a try?”  He suggested before vanishing into the fresher to get his shower.</p><p>Tobias watched his brother go for a moment before shaking his head, and going into his own room to change and relax.</p><p>*</p><p>The next afternoon they meant the girls again, keeping it on a friends only relationship.  The girls didn’t seem too mind much and they spent the next few days of their leave simply shopping and hanging out.</p><p>They made sure to promise to keep in touch, which they would end up doing after they left.</p><p>*</p><p>The recycled air of the ship felt almost wrong when they re-boarded.  The men moving slowly as they slowly came on board, checking in with Drake or a member of Broken Wing as they did so.  Tobias and Raven had started the check in process when Peg called out the them and walk the girls up to them.</p><p>“(We wanted to give you this.)” Nehma told him, holding out a box to each brother.</p><p>“(It’s got some dried fruits and meats, and the one box has books for Tobias in it.)” Serpan told the two.  </p><p>“(We figured you’d like the snacks while you’re in space.)” Nehma explained, “(In case you get tired of the food they give you.)”</p><p>Tobias thanked them, while ignoring the looks Peg and Caw gave them.</p><p>“Girlfriends?”  Peg finally asked as they watched the girls leave.</p><p>“No, just friends.” Tobias told him, checking the next man off.</p><p>“You sure, cause they sure seemed interested in you all week.”</p><p>“We’re just friends Peg.”  Tobias told them, then shoved a pad at Peg.  “Here, help, you know what to do.”</p><p>His brother sighed, but began the check in.</p><p>When everyone was on board, and the ship fully loaded with supplies, Tobias couldn’t help but feel a bit sad.  Walking with Raven to the bridge he saw other men gathered around, watching the ground threw the glass.  In front of them, waiting and waving some of the greeting party stood.</p><p> </p><p>“Are we ready?” Leah asked finally.</p><p>“Yes sir.”</p><p>“Then take off.” She told her men, her eyes forward as well as the ship slowly ascended into the sky.</p><p>“Can’t wait to see how pissed the GAR is…” Drake trailed off.</p><p>“Yeah, but this was worth it, totally worth it.” Caw told his brother, watching as the ground slowly vanished beneath the clouds.</p><p>Then they were out of the atmosphere and back into space.</p><p>“Where to?”  came the question.</p><p>“Republic space.  We should probably rejoin the war effort.”</p><p>A final glance was given by everyone to the planet, then it was gone, eaten up the stars as the ship made the jump, taking them back into the war that was their life.</p><p>“Was a nice respite though.” Raven spoke softly.</p><p>“We’ll be back again.” Leah assured him, “Even if I need to barrow my battalion for a week or two to do it.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 6: Of ARCs</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>They were bored, in hyperspace, killing time anyway they could.  They had a week stuck out there.  A week of doing nothing other then sparing and annoying one another.  None of the men felt like doing tattoos, nothing was new to celebrate.</p><p>Raven and the rest of Broken Wing had started to get on one another’s nerves already so the men were spread out as much as they could get on the ship.</p><p>Raven had taken up space on his bunk, reading a halo novel he’d picked up at some point.  Glancing up from his novel he glanced over to the bunk next to his.</p><p>The only one not bothered by the lack of activity was Tobias.  His brother was currently laying on his own bed, reading a technical manual, or regulations manual or something.  The other clone had already worked on a language, Raven thought Twi’lik for part of the day so he’d moved on to boring things.</p><p>Raven sighed, watching his brother.  Tobias didn’t even react to the sound so he sighed again louder this time.</p><p>“Need something?”  Tobias didn’t look up from his data pad.</p><p>“Let’s do something Toby.” Raven put down his own pad and pulled himself into a sitting position using the top bunk to pull himself up, “Anything other than lay here and read.  I didn’t think I’d get bored of doing nothing but I’m about to lose my mind.”</p><p>“Go spar with Crow.” Tobias still hadn’t looked up yet.</p><p>“I already did that.” Raven whined out.</p><p>“Peg?” </p><p>“No, he’s mad at me for putting bacta in his shampoo again.”  </p><p>Tobias did look up at that giving his brother a what the hell dude expression, “You put… why?  What does that even do?”</p><p>“It tingles?” Raven offered, “and I was bored.”</p><p>“Wait.. Again?  You’ve done that before?”  Now he put the pad down to stare at Raven in disbelief, “Why?” He asked again.</p><p>“For fun… and revenge…. And cause he started it.”</p><p>Tobias shook his head deciding he really didn’t want to know and settled back down with his data pad.</p><p>“No wait Toby, before you start to read again let’s do something.”</p><p>Tobias eyed his brother, then turned onto his side to ignore him.</p><p>“Fine be that way.  I’ll put bacta in your shampoo next.”</p><p>“We use the same shampoo.” Tobias reminded him, still not looking up from his book.</p><p>“Oh… right.” Raven paused for a minute.  “Please Toby.” He whined out, full out begging.</p><p>“Oh all right.” Tobias sighed again, putting down his pad as he pulled himself up.  “What do you want to do?”</p><p>“Something, Anything!  Just not sit here for the rest of the day.”</p><p>Tobias was stopped from saying anything else as Caw entered the room followed by Peg.  He’d been about to warn Raven when Peg spoke first.</p><p>“Raven.” </p><p>He turned in time to see a pad coming toward his head and just barely was able to catch it.</p><p>“What the hell?” Raven glared at his batch brother.</p><p>“Read it.” Peg stood by this bed arms crossed, Caw looking excited next to him.</p><p>Raven sighed at the thought of reading anything and Tobias grabbed the pad before he could even touch it. </p><p>“I just got him to put down a pad you know.” Raven half wined out.</p><p>“It will be worth it, we promise.” Caw told him.</p><p>Tobias’s eyes were going over the text the pad was opened to even as they were talking.  He lowered it go glance at his two other batch brothers, “Seriously?”  He didn’t elaborate and saw the look Raven shot him.</p><p>“Yeah we think it’s a great idea.  We want to do it.”  Peg told him.</p><p>“Do what?”  Raven asked, slightly annoyed,</p><p>“It’s a crazy idea…” Tobias trailed off.</p><p>“But if we can do it.”</p><p>Nether brother bothered to fill Raven in with what they were talking about.  Both of them still watching Raven’s reactions.</p><p>“All right, enough.” Raven grumped, making a dive for the pad.  Tobias twisted at the last second and the two ended up in a wrestling match of keep away that moved from the bed to the floor.  A few more moments passed as the two fought, Tobias holding up the pad.  He stopped moving suddenly as it was taken from his hands and Raven froze looking at his brother in concern.</p><p>He followed Tobias’s gaze upward a meant a confused, and amused, but trying to look serous Drake.</p><p>“Felt like sparing in the barracks?” The Commander asked, eyes going to the data pad.</p><p>“It seemed like the proper place to do it, no crowds, no shinies watching and placing bets, and when you get tired you can just fall into bed.” Raven joked, he got one jab into Tobias’s side before moving off his brother and standing.  Tobias glared at him, but moved off the ground and onto his own bunk.</p><p>“So you’re considering it?”  Drake asked, ignoring Raven’s comment.</p><p>“We just came in here to ask Toby what he thought.” Crow confirmed.</p><p>Raven let out a very frustrated sound, “Would someone tell me what you all are going off about?” He glared at everyone, his commander included.</p><p>Drake looked at him in amusement, “You didn’t tell him yet I take it?”  He glanced at the other men, before looking at Tobias for the longest minute, then back to Raven, “Well, if you don’t want him to know…”</p><p>“Know what?!” Raven stared down his commander.  A different clone would have been disciplined but Drake wouldn’t do that to his batch brother, especially not since he was in on the teasing of him.</p><p>“Should probably tell him sir before he has a complete meltdown.” Tobias told him lightly.</p><p>Raven glared again then grabbed his own pad.  “If you won’t tell me I’ll just hack Peg’s stupid data pad and find out myself.”</p><p>“It’s actually my pad.” Crow cut in.</p><p>“Crow’s pad then.” Raven amended, his hand’s going over his own pad as he started to work.</p><p>“Raven.” Drake finally admonished, “Here, I’ll just tell you.”</p><p>The slicer gave him a look that said he almost didn’t believe him.</p><p>“They opened applications for men to be nominated for ARC trooper training.  It would be a several week course, with limited spaces.”  Drake paused, looking over his vod, “The catch is there’s only two spots being offered to our battalion and you’d need to take a placement test before they accept your application.  I can nominate you, but that test will be the issue.  If this program is successful they’ll open it to two more men from here, but that first group needs to prove this training program actually does work.”</p><p>All eyes fell on Tobias for a minute. </p><p>“So it’s just figuring out who the second man will be?”  Peg asked, looking back to the Commander.</p><p>“Wait, how do we even know I’d pass it?”  Tobias asked, everyone gave him a look of seriously before he sighed “How do you know I even want the promotion?”  He amended his question.</p><p>“Because, we talked about wouldn’t it be cool if we could before, and you always said you wanted to.” Raven reminded his brother.  “So what do we need to study?” he asked turning back to the Commander.</p><p>“That’s the issue, they don’t say.  It could be anything, at all, that’s ever come out text wise or that you’ve learned.  It could even be situations you’ve run into on missions.”  Drake told them.  “You’ll just need to study it on your own, everything and hope you can pass the test.”</p><p>“And when is it?”  Tobias finally asked the important question.</p><p>“Two weeks.”</p><p>Raven let out a squeak glancing at his pad, “Two weeks?”</p><p>“You have two weeks to read and study as much as you can.  Luckily we have a few more days in hyperspace before our mission, and I’ll try and make sure you all get as much study time as you can while on the mission, but that’s all I can offer you help wise.” Drake looked at his vod for another minute.  “I wish I could help you more but this is all I can do.”</p><p>The men glanced at one another for a moment before nodding.</p><p>“Not like there’s anything else to do, right Toby?”  Raven asked, glancing toward his brother.</p><p>Tobias had already curled back up on his bunk, his datapad in his hand and a book he used to take notes in the other.</p><p>“Figures.” Raven muttered.</p><p>“I’ll go get us some caff.” Crow offered, “We’ll probably need it.”</p><p>“I may as well pull up a list of reading materials we haven’t gone over in a few years.  I’ll have the list ready when you get back.” Peg offered, heading toward his own bunk.</p><p>Drake glanced over the men for another moment, pride in his eyes.  “I’ll leave you to your studies then.  And good luck.”</p><p>The men nodded good bye to him but didn’t speak, already in motion to start their marathon study sessions. </p><p>*</p><p>“FFFFhhhfffff!” Raven threw his head back against the bed frame.  “How long has it been?”  He asked, wiping his eyes as he looked up from his data pad.</p><p>“Three hours.” Tobias didn’t look up, but he did stop to sip some of his caff, and looked in disappointment at the cup when he realized it was empty.</p><p>“I don’t know how you do it Toby, reading for this long for days.” Peg shook his head.</p><p>“For enjoyment?”  he offered with a shrug.  “Right now I’m thinking a trip to the mess is in order.” He stood, stretching as he did so.  Even his back and shoulders got sore sitting still all day like that.</p><p>Raven glanced at the clock, “It is past dinner time.”  The slicer stood up, watching as the other two moved to join them.  Thinking about it he grabbed his datapad to bring along for the meal.  The others he noticed were doing the same, Tobias with the addition of his notebook.  Peg’s pad was handed off to Caw so he could carry the tray with the now empty caff cups back down to mess. </p><p>The group moved quietly past other troopers in the hallways.  It was evening, the men were either coming back from eating, or going to work out, or in some cases watch halomovies together.  A few greeted them, and they caught more then one strange look at each of them having pads.  Eyes landed on Tobias’s notebook as well, some with a bit of worry in them.</p><p>“Sirs, is everything all right?” A younger trooper stopped them, his eyes locked on Tobias’s hands in concern.</p><p>“What?” Tobias followed his gaze.</p><p>“Everything’s fine, Toby’s just studying.  You know how he is.” Raven told the younger clone.</p><p>Relief was visible in his eyes, “Oh good.” He visibly relaxed as well, “for a minute I thought we had a mission no one had told us about yet.”</p><p>“Nope, no mission, Just Toby being Toby.” Raven assured the trooper.</p><p>The kid smiled at them and quickly turned down the hall to go back to whatever he was doing.</p><p>“Shoulda realized us walking around with data pads would worry the men.” Raven shook his head.</p><p>“It is kind of not normal for us.” Peg added, “Unless we’re prepping for a mission, or just went on one we tend not to walk like this all with pads.”</p><p>“Everyone will know soon enough what we’re up to on a ship this size.”  Caw reassured them, “Just tell one trooper what we’re up to while were eating and the entire ship will know before breakfast.”</p><p>“Before we even get to bed.” Peg muttered as they entered the mostly deserted mess.  A few men were still scattered around but mostly everyone else was gone.  The three tables of men did give them a curious glance, eyes settling on the pads in their hands.</p><p>“I’ll get your food if you keep on to my pad.” Crow offered, his brother nodding.</p><p>Peg took Tobias pad and notebook as well so he would have a free hand to get their drinks and found a table, immediately started to read as soon as he sat down.</p><p>“Something you never thought you’d see.” Raven joked as they joined him at the table.</p><p>“You mean you actually studying?” Peg shot back.</p><p>“I mean you reading something you weren’t ordered to.”  Raven replied, opening his own pad to read while he ate. </p><p>“Surprised you even can-“</p><p>“Guys.” Tobias cut them off “Crow and I would like to eat our meal in piece and study if you don’t mind.”</p><p>Caw had his own pad open and was staring at his brothers a bit.  He nodded to Tobias’s statement as he made it however.  “Some of us are trying to learn here you know.”</p><p>Peg and Raven stared at the two before Peg shook his head and threw a food cube at Caw.  Pretending he didn’t do anything when Caw let out an indignant squeak he went back to his own pad and meal.</p><p>*</p><p>Two weeks, and less time then they wanted to read.  One stupid mission chasing down a lost senator’s kid who thought it would be fun to pretend to be kidnapped by the Separatists had eaten most of their time.  It came to a head when his friend was almost arrested, and or shot, going on a snack run for everyone held up in a cave.  The friend, when thrown to the ground and cuffed finally admitted it was all a joke and the other kids came out of hiding.  A week, almost a full week waisted chasing down rumors started by spoiled rich kids who got mad at their parents for not buying them the newest speeder after they’d broken the last one.   The kids were supposedly grounded, for not only worrying their parents, but for putting the entire planet on lock down, no traders could come in or out.  Product spoiled while it was sitting on docking bays, and merchants lost deals.  Not only that, the GAR was out whatever cost they figured the man hours the clones waisted was worth, while less then the lost product, somewhere out there a planet could have used the men.</p><p>And the men, Raven and the others were grumpy because they had lost that week on a worthless, waste of time mission.</p><p>Two weeks was all they had and it was gone.</p><p>“When you get back to the ship.” Drake spoke in the comms of his batch brothers, “The test is waiting for you.” He knew a few were wincing, and at least one cursed.  He didn’t blame them, and felt the same way even if he couldn’t voice it.</p><p>“We may as well get this over with…” Raven trailed off, looking down.  He couldn’t see his brothers faces behind their helmets but he knew they felt the same way.  Even Tobias seemed less then hopeful about the whole thing.</p><p>The ride back to the ship was a quiet one, as was the walk to the bridge of the ship.  Drake looked his brothers over then nodded to the back of the room.  </p><p>“There is no time limit.” He told them, watching as the men nodded, “You can’t use notes, and I need to observe you while you take it to make sure you’re not talking.”</p><p>Tobias glanced toward the wall of computer banks and hesitated himself.</p><p>“You’ll all be fine.”  Drake told them, following the men.  </p><p>There was a bit more hesitation before they sat down, shifting to get comfortable after the mission and glanced up at Drake.</p><p>The Commander nodded to them then keyed something up on his pad, loading the test on each of their screens, “Keep in mind once you sign in with your CT numbers you can’t stop the test.  I’d suggest you shower first but this is only going to be open for a limited time.”  He men nodded.</p><p>“Ready.”</p><p>“Yes sir.”  Meant his hears.</p><p>He hesitated for one final moment, looking into the eyes of each of his men before he hit the button and the test option showed up on each of their screens.  “Good luck vod.”  He told them stepping away.</p><p>Tobias breathed, almost sensing the tension behind him as he keyed in his own number.  In an instant the test loaded on his screen, the instructions simple enough, multiple choice for some, essays explaining what they would do in situations in others.  Confirming he understood he hit the next button and watched as the test loaded, estimated time to complete it four hours if the test could be believed.</p><p>Someone, Peg or Caw cursed under their breath but everyone else was quiet otherwise, only the sounds of men using the computers and the other soft bridge sounds could be heard.</p><p>*</p><p>“My eyes are melting.” Caw complained once everyone had submitted the tests.</p><p>“Really, my brain is melting.” Raven told his brother as they slowly stood up.</p><p>It was a close call who finished first, but it hadn’t been Tobias which slightly worried his brothers given how much he loved to read and absorbed details and data.</p><p>“How do you think you did?”  Caw spoke softly asking his brothers.</p><p>Drake had finished locking their tests as they stood, and was keying in some information.</p><p>“Horrible.” Peg told them.</p><p>“A bit better then Peg at least.” Raven added, smirking toward his vod.</p><p>Eyes turned to Tobias.  </p><p>“Not as good as I should have.” He looked down for a minute, “I second guessed myself too much.”</p><p>“Well that’s not a good sign.”</p><p>“All right, you four can go.” Drake cut in.  “The tests have been recorded.  I should hear back about them in about a week.”</p><p>“Thanks Drake…” Raven sounded as depressed as he looked.</p><p>All of his men did.  “See you boys tonight for cards?”  Drake asked before they could go.  Cards were their standard to go in times when they needed a pick up.</p><p>“Could be fun.” Raven shrugged a bit then nodded, “We will.  I think we’re going to shower, clean our armors and get dinner.”</p><p>Tobias gave the space sky one final look as he followed his brothers from the bridge, the stars still calm, unmoving stars visible through the glass.  They were finishing up some paperwork before they would leave, and so would the stars, turning into streaks of light, instead of tiny specks visible in the distance. </p><p>He turned away and followed his tired and depressed batch from the bridge.  Ignoring the look of concern Drake shot him he didn’t look at his other brother, simply watching the ground as it passed under his boot.</p><p>*</p><p>A shower didn’t help his mood any.  The water was almost unnoticeable, lacking the normal warming, calming effect it had on him.  His vod were the same way, quiet, barely speaking as they showered, then cleaned armors.  The rest of the barracks was quiet as well, men glancing at them in concern but no one asking them how it went, their body language clearly telling them everything they needed to know.</p><p>“Drake said he’d stop by for cards later tonight.” Raven broke the silence suddenly and Caw cursed, having dropped the armor part he was cleaning.</p><p>A glare was shot Raven’s way.  “What?  They needed to know.”</p><p>“But did you need to be so loud Raven?” Caw asked, picking up the piece he’d been working on.</p><p>“They wouldn’t have heard me if I whispered you know.” Raven reminded his brother, going back to work on his own armor.</p><p>Caw sighed, watching as his hands worked, “I know.  Sorry Raven, I’m just… frustrated.”</p><p>“Wa all are Crow, it’s okay.” Peg reminded his brother.</p><p>“Hey look, I don’t want to break up this depression circle, but you guys wanna go get something to eat?  We’ll take care of your armors while you’re eating.” A medic offered, settling on the bed next to Raven.</p><p>A few of their other brothers agreed, moving towards the four depressed troopers.</p><p>“You guys sure?”  Raven paused his cleaning to glance over the other men,</p><p>“Yeah, go on guys, when you get back here we’ll comm Drake so we can have that game.”  The medic told them shooing them from the room.</p><p>“Ever feel like you’re not wanted around?”  Raven asked with a half sad laugh as they walked.  The only sound was the echoing of their boot falls.</p><p>“Just today, and when whoever grades those tests.” Peg confirmed.  “Today, this week over all sucked.”</p><p>His brothers agreed, their moods slightly better but still sour.</p><p>“At least we get to play cards later…” Caw sighed as they ate.  He brothers glanced at him but didn’t bother replying.</p><p>The rest of their meal went by just as quietly, and still silent they walked back to their barracks.</p><p>It was already set up for cards when they got back.  Random snacks that were kept in the stash had been pulled out, along with drinks, beds had been shifted slightly, and a table made from food lockers.  Drake was resting on one of the bunks reading something while everyone waited on them.</p><p>“Good, your back.” He greeted them.  “Ready?”  He motioned to the cards in his hands and the various empty spots around the table.</p><p>Raven nodded, immediately sliding into his normal seat.  Tobias watched his other brothers settle down and went to go lay down while they played.</p><p>“You can play if you want Toby.” Drake made the offer looking at his brother in concern.  Normally Tobias never played, he could count cards, even when not intending so he didn’t consider himself playing as fair to the other.</p><p>Tobias shook his head, turning over on the bed to face away from them, “No, it’s fine Drake.  I actually am tired tonight.”</p><p>“Well if you change your mind….”  The offer was left open.  A few moments later Tobias heard cards being shuffled and he closed his eyes to sleep.</p><p>*</p><p>The week passed at a crawl, but finally Drake came to see them, the way he walked told them clearly it wasn’t a personal call.  It was a day off, and everyone was still in bed in barracks, either sleeping, reading or just relaxing in some ways.  The sight of Drake in armor, with their Jedi behind him made the men pause, and sit up, some coming to full attention.</p><p>“Peregrine, Crow.” He spoke, his eyes landing on Tobias and Raven next.</p><p>“Sir?”  The two younger ones, Peg and Caw moved to stand at attention by him.  Raven and Tobias simply sat up on the beds looking at their commander.</p><p>“The results are back.”  </p><p>A hush fell over the room, anticipation clear.</p><p>“Bad news?”  someone dared to ask.</p><p>“Not exactly.”  Drake glanced once at Leah who nodded at him before he continued speaking, “All four of you actually passed the test.  There are marked differences between the results, but they were what Kamino was looking for.” </p><p>“And?”</p><p>“They’re taking two of you for training now.  The other two will be in the next class.”  Drake told them, looking at the four men.</p><p>The brothers looked at one another for a moment, one question still on their minds.</p><p>“Who’s going first sir?”  Tobias asked cautiously.</p><p>“Tobias and Raven scored the highest, so they’ll be going first, Crow, you scored 3rd, Peg 4th.  However,” He eyed the men before any teasing could start.  “All of your scores were very, very high, much higher than other men.  Kamino actually asked if I wanted all of you back.” He laughed softly, but the offer was there, if they wanted to stay on Kamino they could, or move to another battalion.</p><p>“Thank you sir, but no, we’re staying with our family.” Peg told him, glancing at his brothers.</p><p>The others nodded without speaking.</p><p>“I figured, but I still wanted to give you the option.” Drake told them, and glanced to Leah.</p><p>She smiled at her men and walked to them.  “Congratulations, I know you’ll all do well.”  She hugged each of them before looking between Tobias and Raven.  “And when you get back I can’t wait to see your ARC armor.”</p><p>Raven smiled at Tobias then looked to his Jedi, “Of course ma’am, you already know what colors it will be.”</p><p>She laughed lightly, though Tobias picked up a hint of sadness in her tone.  He knew why.  ARCs mean more dangerous missions, her boys would be more out front of the others, in more dangerous situations.</p><p>“We’ll be safe Seh-Leah.” He assured her.</p><p>He saw her smile at him, and knew that she knew what he meant.  Safe, overall, not just on Kamino.</p><p>“When do we leave sirs?”  Tobias asked, finally turning from his Jedi to look at Drake.</p><p>“Actually…” Drake paused, glancing towards Leah, “In about fifteen minutes.  We’re dropping out of hyperspace to rendezvous with a ship that will take you to Kamino.  Sorry for the late notice but we just found out ourselves.”</p><p>Tobias glanced toward his brother and moved to his bed to pack his few belongings.</p><p>“How long is the training sirs?”  Raven followed his lead using a more formal tone.</p><p>“Two to three weeks.  It’s a new program so they’re not sure how long it should take for your group.  Just… be prepared to be gone for three weeks at least.”</p><p>Raven nodded, moving to pack his own belongings.  “Nice thing about the GAR at least,” Eyes glanced at him, “the only thing we need to really pack is our datapads and shaving kids.”</p><p>A few men laughed in agreement.  No one would argue that point at least.</p><p>Tobias finished packing quickly, noting that while Leah had left the room Drake still lingered, watching the two of them while talking to the rest of the men.  In a way it made sense, none of his batch had ever been split up like this before, it would be the first time they’d been separated for longer then a mission took, it would be the first time Drake couldn’t simply comm them to make sure his men were okay.</p><p>“Listen.” Drake cut into his thoughts, “While you’re in training, I can’t comm you, at all.  You’ll be under the command of another Commander, and probably Jedi.  The men training you will be over seeing you, answering any questions you have.  They and everyone on Kamino will be the only ones allowed to speak to you.  Everyone here,” He glanced at his other men before looking back to Tobias and Raven, “will be blocked from talking to you.  You will be unable to get any messages from anyone while in training.”</p><p>“We’ll be okay Drake.” Raven cut in, looking at his brother for a moment.  He hesitated then hugged his batch brother, “We’ll take care of one another Drake.”</p><p>Drake nodded, clearly fighting back tears as pulled out of the hug.  “I know, it’s just….”</p><p>The ship dropped out of hyperspace and his comm went off.</p><p>“The ship is here Drake.” Leah’s voice was filled with the same emotion Drake’s was.  This would be the first time any of her men were out on their own.</p><p>“We’re on our way down.” Drake confirmed and began to walk with the men to the hanger.  Peg and Caw followed behind them silently as well.</p><p>The hanger bay was unusually quiet as they entered, various men stopping what they were doing to watch the group walk across the room to the new ship.  Leah meant them, her eyes going worriedly over her men as they walked silently.  No one spoke till they stopped next to the open doors of the transport ship.</p><p>“Take care you two.” She told them, hugging her men, “Be safe, and we’ll see you when you get back.”  She looked a bit worried and a bit sad.</p><p>“We will General.” Tobias told her.</p><p>The two men fell into a formal stance and saluted her and Drake before slowly walking into the awaiting ship.</p><p>Someone, the commander of the ship Tobias assumed looked the two over as they entered and they quickly paused, falling to the same stance for him.</p><p>“Sargent Tobias, and Sargent Raven, reporting as ordered.” Raven spoke for the two of them.</p><p>The commander nodded, “At ease.  Go take a seat, we still have a few men to pick up.”</p><p>“We will sir, thank you sir.” Tobias told him and lead his brother past various other men to settle down in a row of empty chairs.  They had barely settled in before the ship was lifting up again, slowly leaving the Nest for the open space, a moment later going into hyperspace to meet with the next ship and the next two men they would take.</p><p>*</p><p>Kamino was exactly like they remembered it.  They and the other trainees where shown to a barracks, more similar to the ships then the cadet one, with bunk beds instead of tubes.  But that was about the only difference.  They were given a curfew, and schedule, and told when and where they were not allowed to go, and where they should be.  They were assigned bunks by battalion, Tobias was glad at least Raven would be his bunk mate.  Then given reading materials and told to study for two hours, then have dinner, then study for another two, shower then bed.</p><p>Tobias watched as Raven climbed onto the top bunk, not speaking though his eyes said all.  The room was almost dead quiet.  Forty men in that room and almost all of them were too nervous to speak to one another.</p><p>*</p><p>The trainer entered their room and glanced at the men, his footsteps echoing in the silent room.  Men quickly realized he was there, sitting up, then standing, sliding off beds and coming to attention.  He paused in his inspection to let his eyes finish going over the room.</p><p>“All right men, at ease, all of you.”  </p><p>The men fell into a semi-formal stance but still didn’t relax.</p><p>“Understand this, you are here because of your own efforts.  You are here because you excelled at something that got you, your battalion noticed.  You are here because you were nominated and passed the tests with flying colors. However,” Everyone was suddenly tensed again.  “Keep in mind, you are not cadets.  We do not expect you to act like them, you are all seasoned trained troopers.” Several of the men looked at one another in confusion but no one spoke yet.  “As such, you may talk, amongst yourselves.  You do not need to come to formal attention as you are now.  And please ask me questions.”</p><p>The men slowly relaxed and he smiled lightly.</p><p>“Good, now if you all are ready, we’ll head to the mess for dinner.”</p><p>A few ‘yes sirs’ were heard and the men began to follow him. </p><p>He laughed briefly shortly into the walk and smiled, “And you don’t need to worry about walking in lines.” </p><p>The men laughed, then glanced at one another before slowly separating.  They still kept in a loose formation, but it was more relaxed then before.</p><p>Tobias glanced toward Raven, noting his brother seemed just as nervous as the others.</p><p>“Hey relax.  No Peg here to prank you.” He reminded him, bumping into him slightly as they walked.</p><p>“Yeah, but no Peg here for me to prank either.” Raven told him, finally relaxing.</p><p>“Peg your batch brother?”  A voice asked, they turned to find the Commander looking at them.</p><p>“Yes sir.” Tobias told him, Raven had tensed slightly, but he stayed relaxed.  “Peg, his real name is Peregrine.”</p><p>“Oh.”  The commander paused, smiling at the two of them.  “He scored in the top twenty with you two you know.  You’re entire batch impressed us.  If we could we would have taken all of you.”</p><p>Tobias gave him a surprised look, glancing back to Raven before speaking.  “Sorry sir, we weren’t told of our placement rankings, just how we placed against one another.  I don’t think our commander knew if he was allowed to tell us or not.”</p><p>“He could have, but I understand his concern.  We weren’t too clear with the directions this time around.  This is new for everyone so we’re figuring it out as we go.”  He smiled to the two. “Tobias, you were ranked first among over one hundred men.  Raven you were ranked third.”</p><p>Tobias glanced toward his brother, neither of them had introduced themselves and were a bit surprised he knew them by name.</p><p>“Crow and Peregrine both ranked in the top twenty.  We were surprised, we didn’t expect that many men from one battalion to test that high, but it makes sense, you are the same batch and first batchers to boot.”</p><p>Tobias looked over to Raven to see the same confusion in his eyes.</p><p>“First batchers sir?”  Raven asked carefully.</p><p>“Yeah, first batchers, some of the first clones created.  You were made before most of the others, myself included.”  The Commander explained as they got their dinner.  Other men were giving them looks of confusion but at that point Tobias and Raven were ignoring them.  “It makes your batch kind of special.  It’s rare to find a complete batch that survived Geonosis and got assigned the same battalion like you did, even more so that you’re all alive now.”</p><p>Raven glanced at Tobias for a moment before speaking, “Now we can thank our Jedi General for that.  Before sir, I think it was just blind luck.”</p><p>“Luck or not, you’re both kind of special.”  He told them before the settled down to eat.</p><p>Dinner came and went, and they were presented with new datapads, loaded with new information when they got back to their room.  Each pad had ARC manuals, lessons, and information.  Anything too far ahead was locked but they could see the titles.</p><p>“ARC manuals Toby.” Raven whispered, sitting next to his brother on the bed.</p><p>“I know.” Tobias told him, already thumbing through the information.</p><p>“But these are real live ARC regulations.”</p><p>“I know, which is why they probably took away our abilities to communicate with anyone outside of this class.  Makes sense they don’t want people..” He paused looking directly at Raven, “anyone to go blabbing this stuff to others, specially their vod their trying to show off to.”</p><p>“But… Toby….”</p><p>“You would you know.  You can’t help one upping Peg every chance you get.”</p><p>An unknown clone the next bed over laughed a bit but didn’t comment otherwise.</p><p>Raven didn’t even look at him, he was too busy glairing at his brother.</p><p>“The truth hurts I know Raven.” Tobias stretched out on his bed, opening to the first lesson they needed to read.  “You should start studying you know.  You can think of ways to torment Peg late.”</p><p>Raven huffed, but climbed up to his bunk to do his readings.  “Peg and Caw will hate this… too much reading…” He joked before settling down.</p><p>Tobias didn’t answer other then to shake his head and loose himself in the manual he was reading.</p><p> </p><p>*</p><p>The classroom was like they remembered it.  Large, empty, just a mat to the side, and lots of floor space for them to sit on.</p><p>“Take a seat boys.”  A Commander told them, he had one of the only two seats in the room and was currently sitting on it while reading something.  “Your teacher will be here in a few moments.”</p><p>Raven glanced at Tobias as they found a spare spot on the floor, datapads in hand.  The two didn’t speak, thought they did glance at other men.  Confusion and concern on their faces, the group clearly having no idea what would happen next.</p><p>“You can talk if you want while we wait.”  The commander from the previous night reminded them.  “Just don’t talk during the lecture unless it’s to ask questions.”  He turned away before looking back to the men, “And please ask questions.  You will be graded on questions asked as well as how you behave in the class, and how well you do on tests and quizzes.”</p><p>‘Quizzes?” Raven mouth to Tobias.</p><p>Tobias nodded but didn’t speak.</p><p>Several of the men slowly began to talk amongst themselves, comparing what battalions they were from, what Jedi they had and what he or she was like.  From what Tobias could tell it seemed more male Jedi had sent men then females.  He also let his eyes finally see the men.  He saw several he assumed of his own ranking, but in the mix were some captains and a few commanders.  The last two he assumed where simply getting the training, the others he knew were there to becomes ARCS.</p><p>The room went deadly silent and he looked forward for the reason.  A clone had walked in.</p><p>Not just any clone though.  This one was to be their trainer from the way the Commanders greeted him.</p><p>Everything about the way he carried himself confirmed that the armor he wore was his.</p><p>Raven also stopped, frozen for a moment, they both knew what they were looking at.</p><p>An Alpha ARC.</p><p>They would be trained by an Alpha ARC.</p><p>Raven poked him in the side and Tobias only nodded still not speaking.</p><p>They had expected maybe a Commander, maybe a bounty hunter, but not someone ranked as high as him.</p><p>“All right troopers, this is Alpha-17, he’ll be your trainer for the next few weeks.  We expect bumps in this program as it’s a new program so please, don’t be afraid to speak up and ask questions.  You are helping us develop this program.  You passed the tests so all of you deserve to be here.”  Their commander reassured them.</p><p>“Are you leaving us then sir?”</p><p>“No, I’ll be here as well to help develop this program, I just won’t be the one teaching you.”  He nodded to the Alpha ARC and stepped back.</p><p>The ARC’s eyes went over his new men for a moment before he began to speak, “You all know why we started this program correct?” A few men nodded so he continued “For those that do not, we cannot produce enough true ARCS to keep up with demand.  It was decided that instead we’d take normal troopers such as yourselves and train them to be ARCs for replacements for us.  Now, we don’t know if this will work out how it was envisioned but we’re going to give it a try.  When you complete this class, if you pass you’ll be given ARC titles, with the exception of course of the Captains and Commanders taking this class, your titles will remain unchanged.” </p><p>The men nodded but didn’t speak.</p><p>“Again, please ask questions when and if you have them.  This is a new program for everyone so without your questions we will not be able to evaluate how it’s doing.  Is that clear?”</p><p>A yes sir was heard in response.</p><p>“Good now…”  He trailed off and began the lesson.</p><p>*</p><p>“So how much of that did you understand?” Raven asked his brother once they were back at the dorm.  Tobias had settled down to read on his bed as soon as they had gotten back from the class.</p><p>“All of it why?”  He glanced up from his pad once before going back to the text they were to read that night.</p><p>Read the text, review it with other men, then any questions they had would be asked the next day, at least that was the plan that the Commander had told them.</p><p>“Somehow I’m not surprised.” Raven told him, shaking his head a bit.</p><p>“He gets it?”  One of the men asked, moving a bit closer to the two.</p><p>“Toby?  Yeah Toby is good like that.  He can figure out stuff like this class without a problem.” Raven told them as he settled onto the bunk next to his brother.</p><p>The men glanced at Tobias for a moment.</p><p>“Read the text, and you still have questions I’ll help you with it then.” He told them, then looked up, “Sir.” He added since a Commander was one of the men listening in.</p><p>He got comfortable on the bed again and lost himself in the text.  It was a few hours later when a group chat of some kind went live, probably at the suggestion of one of the men and a few questions started to appear with men trying to find the answer or agreeing they had no idea.  Tobias ignored it for a few minutes, content to read till some of the men started to beg for the answer.  He sighed once, then opened the chat and posted what pages the answers could be found on.  A few moments later men responded thanking him and the chat fell quiet till the next round of questions.  He fell into the pattern for the next few nights of watching the chat while he read, he’d wait for a bit before answering questions and if no one else knew the answer he’d post where it could be found but not the actual answer.  The men knew who it was answers the questions and he’d occasionally get thanked by having random cups of caff delivered to his bed or table as he studied.</p><p>*</p><p>“You’re the one who aced the test aren’t you?”  A voice asked him suddenly as they were studying in the mess.</p><p>Tobias nodded before looking up to see a commander looking at him, “Yes sir I am.” He went to stand but the commander’s shake of the head told him to remain sitting.</p><p>“Thought so since you seem to find the answers so easily.”  The commander settled himself down next to Tobias.  “I’m Wolffe.” He introduced himself.  </p><p>“Tobias, and that’s my batch brother Raven.” Tobias motioned toward Raven who was talking to someone else in their class as the two studied.</p><p>The commander’s eyes went over his armor for a moment and he appeared lost in thought, “109th?” He finally sked.</p><p>“Yes sir.”</p><p>“We don’t really hear or see much of your battalion around.  It’s not like the other, more flashy ones.”</p><p>“I know.” He glanced briefly at his pad, “We’re a smaller battalion, just under three thousand men.  We tend to get the missions that requires stealth, where a larger battalion would be noticed.” He explained.  “And we’re usually out a lot, we’ve never had leave on Coruscant or any of the core planets so we don’t really know anyone outside of our own battalion and supply stations.”</p><p>Wolffe frowned, “You don’t get leave?”  He didn’t seem overly happy with the news of that.</p><p>“No, sir, at least not approved leave.  Our general takes us on leave of her own free will though.”  Tobias looked at him, relieved to see amusement on his face instead of anger.</p><p>“You’re the battalion then.” He laughed slightly, “I’ve heard about you guys.  The battalion that takes itself for its own shore leaves every few months.  A few of the Generals were talking about you.”</p><p>Tobias nodded, unsure how to feel about that.  “It’s because we can’t get approved for the time off.  Our General requests it and it’s never approved, at all.  She’s tried to go through the official channels every time and every time it’s rejected so finally she just decided to start telling them when we would take leave and we take it.”</p><p>“I don’t really blame her.”  Wolffe assured him, “My general and a few of the others would do the same if they were in your position.”  He looked at the clock for a few moments before finishing his drink.  “Class is due to start soon.  In the future if you need breaks just contact us.  I’ll talk it over with my General so we can cover for you.” He left before Tobias could answer.</p><p>Tobias watched him go, confused a bit as he processed that entire conversation.</p><p>“What was that about Toby?”  Raven asked, by his side as he slowly stood up.</p><p>“Not sure, though he did just offer to help us take leave.” Tobias looked at his brother and shrugged as the two left the room.</p><p>*</p><p>They had a training exercise later that day that threw them for a loop.  It was simple, get out of cuffs, something Tobias had learned one time while bored.  Behind your back, also something he’d learned.</p><p>What threw him was they were now standing at the edge of a pool, watching as men were bound by their ankles and with their arms behind their backs.  The first group would go in while they watched and hopefully get free.  They didn’t have dive gear, they needed to rely fully on the air they could hold in their lungs.  Each man was given two picks in case they dropped one, and after some practicing by all of them outside of the water it was decided they would go in.  Several Commanders and other trainers were present around all sides of the pool just in case something went wrong and they needed to go in after the men.</p><p>Raven shared a glance with Tobias as they watched the first set of men go in, a clear uneasy, ‘this is gonna suck’ look but didn’t speak.  They were marked to go last for this training mission and Raven didn’t want to do anything to risk them going sooner.</p><p>A splash and suddenly the first group was in the water.</p><p>As if on cue the other men moved forward, looking over the edge to watch as the men struggled with the shackles.  The first one to get his arms free drop his lock pick before he could do his legs and after what appeared to be a bit of panic grabbed the second pick from where he’d stashed it.  After a minor fight he and another trooper broke the surface at the same time.</p><p>“Not bad.” One of the commanders commented.</p><p>The rest of the men freed themselves and got out of the water without any trouble, even if they did take a bit longer.  The second group was similar with a few more picks being dropped and a few more frustrated men.</p><p>Then it was Tobias and Raven’s turns.  The brothers glanced at one another as they stepped forward and were shackled.</p><p>“Just like to the caves.” Raven told him.  The phrase wasn’t understood by anyone, save for Tobias.  They did underwater cave diving randomly while on leave.  The trick was to always hold your breath long enough so you didn’t run out of air on the way down or up.</p><p>Tobias nodded but didn’t speak, opting for his second pick to be in his mouth instead of on his belt like the first.</p><p>They stepped forward, then were suddenly in the water.</p><p>Tobias watched, relaxing himself as he fell as a man nearby him started to freak out.  He could see above him as the instructors kept an eye on the other trooper just in case.  Worrying about himself for the moment he shifted his arms before he hit the bottom of the pool, moving his arms under his legs so they were in front of him.  Holding his hands up to his mouth he worked the pick slowly, feeling the cuffs release at the same time his feet hit the ground.  </p><p>A concerned glance was given to the man near him that was now clearly still freaking out as he struggled against his bindings.  Tobias quickly moved the pick from his mouth to release his legs while he watched the trooper.  He was losing to much oxygen from the way he was freaking out.</p><p>The shackles released and he hesitated, glancing up he meant the commanders eyes, showed the shackles off then swum to the panicking trooper.  He stayed back far enough, but made sure the other man saw him, and signed simply ‘relax, ‘ll stay with you’.</p><p>The other trooper nodded, calming down suddenly and slowly got to work on his own shackles.  Tobias could tell he was getting low on air, he himself was starting to feel it.  The other trooper looked at him after struggling for a moment, unable to free himself.  A glance up was given with a nod from one of their trainers and Tobias nodded to the other man.  Not bothering to undo his bindings he touched the trooper’s shoulder then keeping in contact with him swam around to his back.  Wrapping an arm around him he pulled himself and the other man to the surface where Raven waited, still treading water.  His brother not about to get out of the pool till Tobias was out as well.</p><p>Arms came out and one splash sounded as another trooper jumped in to help pull the still cuffed man out.  Once he was out of the water and on dry land Tobias and Raven pulled themselves out.</p><p>“How long exactly can you two hold your breaths?”  Wolffe asked, eyeing the two of them.</p><p>“A bit longer than that actually.  We free dive into caves on leave, on my General’s world.” Tobias explained.  He took an offered towel and working to dry himself off a bit.  “He was starting to run out of air though, and in case he fought me I wanted enough oxygen for myself to be able to get us both up.”</p><p>Wolffe nodded, and had been about to speak with one of their trainers came by.  “Good work.”  He simply told them, after checking over Tobias and Raven to make sure they were okay.</p><p>Wolffe watched him go for another moment, “You know.  If you two ever want to transfer…” he trailed off for a moment.</p><p>Raven glanced at Tobias, who shook his head before Wolffe could finish.  “Sorry sir, but I have to decline.  I’d… we’d like to stay with our batch.  We survived Geonosis together, we’ve been together all throughout training, we’re still together now.  We’d like to finish the war together if at all possible.” Tobias told him.</p><p>Wolffe didn’t look upset, he seemed slightly surprised but nodded, “Understandable.  If you ever want to work together though.”</p><p>“Maybe as an on-loan thing sir, but my home is with my brothers on The Nest.” Tobias told him with a half laugh.</p><p>“All right men.” A voice cut into the various conversations going on around them.</p><p>“Everyone did good on that, there were a few slip ups and some of you will need to redo it, but otherwise most of you completed it satisfactorily, and are done with that lesson.  If you want to shower then get changed we’ll send you back to the dorms so you can go over the text lesson.”</p><p>The men exchanged glanced and almost silently went to get cleaned up.  Then slowly made their way to their rooms.</p><p>The next few days were a world wind of weapons training, medical training, simulations, and things some of them would never think of.  The most alarming one for most of them was flying lessons.  They needed to know how to pilot small two passenger aircraft in case they were called in for missions.  Just getting a base understanding of that took longer then anyone had expected.</p><p>The final test came when they were handed ARC armor and told to put it on, for everyone save for the Captains and commanders.  Those got additions to their armor, but weren’t given full ARC armor.</p><p>Raven stared at the pile on the floor in front of him before looking at his brother.  “Ideas?”</p><p>“There’s a basic text that goes over it, but it’s not too detailed.” Tobias admitted.  ‘Seems like most of it would go on like our regular armor, then the added parts are attached.  Once you get the belting figured out the rest should go on super easy.”</p><p>“Easy he says.” Someone next to them muttered.</p><p>Tobias glanced at his brother who shrugged before they slowly and carefully laid out on full set on the floor, and after comparing the diagram laid out the belting and other things that were giving them problems.</p><p>“Now, just to transfer onto a real trooper.”  Tobias laughed, and slowly began to apply his set similarly to the one laid out on the floor.  He got hung up on the belting a bit, Raven helped untangle one that was twisted but soon he was in it, with Raven who had been watching the entire time armored up as well in a few minutes.</p><p>“How’s it feel?”  Their commander asked from behind them.</p><p>“Different sir.” Tobias asked honestly, shifting his weight so he could feel the kama’s move around him.</p><p>“But not bad?”</p><p>“No Sir, not bad.  We will need to get used to the kama’s when we fight but we still have some days here?”  Tobias asked carefully.</p><p>“One day, and we’re doing that as soon as everyone is in armor.  Start thinking of designs for your armors unless you already have.”</p><p>“We will, thank you sir.” Tobias assured him and watched as the trainer walked away.</p><p>Beside him Raven had restrained himself barely till the CO left before he bounced slightly and twirled around, watching the kama’s move.</p><p>Tobias didn’t comment instead did the same himself after a moment.</p><p>“They do feel kinda odd you gotta admit.” Raven told him.</p><p>“Odd, but not bad, I could get used to them.” Tobias assured him.</p><p>Most of the men around them were doing the same thing as them, and only stopped when the trainer gather them all up to move to the room to practice basic fighting.</p><p>*</p><p>They of course went with green with feathers, it only made sense with the rest of their armor.</p><p>When their transport arrived the brothers smiled at one another, and got comfortable for the ride back to the ship.  Neither talking for the three hours till they saw The Nest outside of their window.</p><p>“Ready?”  Raven asked.</p><p>“As I’ll ever be.” Tobias answered him and slowly followed his brother off the transport and into the hanger of their ship.</p><p>Leah, Drake, and the rest of their batch was waiting.</p><p>“Tobias, Raven!” Their General called out in greeting.  She waited till the other ship left before hugging both of her men.  She’d missed them, and had worried about them while they were gone.</p><p>“You two look good.” Drake told them, looking over his brothers.  “Went with green I take it?” He asked looking at the kamas. </p><p>“It only made sense sir.” Tobias told him, turning around so they could all see the design he and Raven both had.</p><p>“I think that settles that then.” Peg told them, eyes looking over his brothers both in pride and jealously, “We all gotta get them in green, but with different feather patterns.”</p><p>Caw titled his head to the side looking at them, “I dunno, I was thinking black with green feathers.” </p><p>“Everyone but Caw of course.” Peg shook his head, “You would be different.”</p><p>His brother shot him a smile but didn’t speak.</p><p>“Ready to let the rest of the ship see you, ARC trooper Tobias, and ARC trooper Raven?” The general asked, no teasing in her tone only pride.</p><p>“Of course sir.”  Tobias glanced at Raven, “They are our family too.”</p><p>He nodded, remembering the words spoken to Wolffe, but didn’t comment on them, simply following his brother out of the hanger and into the main part of the ship.</p>
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